


Hot Pillow

by TheodoreR



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: AU, First Date, Human!Theo, Jealous Liam, Liam is his angry self, M/M, Nett, Theo doesn't know about werewolves, Theo is the hot pillow, Thiam, werewolf!liam
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-28
Updated: 2018-09-09
Packaged: 2019-03-25 02:02:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 29,372
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13824135
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheodoreR/pseuds/TheodoreR
Summary: ...I accidently fell asleep on your shoulder on the train and now you probably think i’m weird...“I thought it couldn’t get more embarrassing, but now that you’re awake and still using me as a pillow it’s even worse.”Liam doesn’t like when people talk to him in the morning, and it’s not like it’s morning now, but he just woke up and the principle is the same, so he instantly hates the owner of the voice coming from his left ear. It doesn’t come frominsidehis ear, okay, but it totally feels like it, which means someone is in Liam’s personal space, which means he can punch him now and it will be the only reasonable thing to do, nobody will give him the looks or blame his I.E.D. like they always do,oh look, Liam just tripped on his foot, must be his I.E.D, Liam is late to class, of course, with his I.E.D and everything, poor boy.But nobody will say he punched this guy because of his I.E.D. because this guy just popped out of nowhere and started talking in his ear, Liam can literally feel his breath on his skin, so hewantsto be punched and a punch is exactly what Liam plans to give to him while he lifts his head.





	1. Chapter 1

 

Liam is a little disoriented when he wakes up because his mom is talking to him in a cold and metallic voice and she’s gently asking the passengers to make sure they have their ticket and _honestly, what the fuck._

Strong artificial lights, low chatter of people, a phone ringing, someone laughing, Liam totally fell asleep on the train again, great.

It’s not the fact that he risks to miss his stop, because he never does actually, it’s like his body recognizes automatically when he’s close to it. It’s a thing dogs do, knowing when they’re close to home even without seeing it, and Liam is some sort of weredog, so it makes sense, he guesses.

What he doesn’t like in falling asleep on the train is the fact that he always does it with his mouth wide opened, probably because of the uncomfortable position, and sometimes he drools. This is not a thing he just knows like dogs knows things, he knows it because Mason has several pictures of Liam sleeping in cars and trains in less than acceptable position. He even has one attached on the wall next to his bed, which is weird, because why the hell Mason would want to wake up every morning to Liam’s ridiculous face with a string of saliva dripping from his open mouth, but then, Mason has always been a weirdo, that’s why he can be friend whit a weredog.  

Liam’s inner weredog must be broken though, because he’s not even close to his stop yet, which is unfortunate, since now he has to actually stay there, sitting among people who just stared at him  drooling all over himself for twenty minutes. They’re not looking at him now, but Liam just knows they did. At least one has probably took a picture too. It’s probably the old lady in front of him, looking out of the glass trying to look all old and innocent, the evil bitch. Liam wants to rip her little lady bag from his hands, take her phone and delete the picture of him, but he doesn’t, because if living seventeen years with I.E.D. has taught him something, it’s that you never do whatever you feel like you want to do when you wake in a bad mood. And Liam always wakes up in a bad mood, so he never does anything for at least five minutes every time he wakes up.

That’s why he still hasn’t moved his head since he opened his eyes.

He’s not even comfortable, his neck is all turned towards his left and the seat cushion is strangely hard and not soft at all, fucking trains, Liam hates them more than anything else in the world, because that’s the only way Liam knows to hate something, strongly and extremely. He’s gonna rip the cushion from his seat and use it to hit the old lady who stole pictures of him, that’s what he’s gonna do.

“I thought it couldn’t get more embarrassing, but now that you’re awake and still using me as a pillow it’s even worse.”

Liam doesn’t like when people talks to him in the morning, and it’s not like it’s morning now, but he just woke up and the principle is the same, so he instantly hates the owner of the voice coming from his left ear. It doesn’t come from _inside_ his ear, okay, but it totally feels like it, which means someone is in Liam’s personal space, which means he can punch him now and it will be the only reasonable thing to do, nobody will give him the _looks_ or blame his I.E.D. like they always do, _oh look, Liam just tripped on his foot, must be his I.E.D, Liam is late to class, of course, with his I.E.D and everything, poor boy._ But nobody will say he punched this guy because of his I.E.D. because this guy just popped out of nowhere and started talking in his ear, Liam can literally feel his breath on his skin, so he _wants_ to be punched and a punch is exactly what Liam plans to give to him while he lifts his head.

It turns out Liam has been sleeping on the guy’s shoulder this whole time and his bad mood is suddenly scratched by an overwhelming wave of embarrassment. He’s just happy Mason wasn’t there to see it.

He abruptly turns his head on his right, deciding that he’s just gonna ignore this whole _sleeping on a stranger_ thing just happened, and then he turns a little on his left again, because if he wants to pretend nothing happened he can’t look away too obviously. So he just stares at the old lady in front of him, who knew everything this whole time and never thought about warning him, Liam hates her so much, she’s everything that’s wrong in this world, with her little brown bag and the purple shawl. Liam kinda wants to steal it, because she has pictures of him, so he should have something of her. It’s while he’s busy figuring out a way to steal it without no one noticing it, that he suddenly remembers a terrifying fact.

The pillow-guy had talked to him. That’s the whole reason Liam noticed he was sleeping on a pillow-guy in the first place, because his voice was in his personal place. The guy had talked to him and this means that his plan of pretending nothing happened was a failure from the start and even worse, now that the guy’s voice echoes in his head, Liam realizes he was mocking him and he didn’t do nothing about it, he didn’t respond, he just moved his head and said nothing and the pillow guy is probably feeling so powerful and confident now. Liam clenches his fist annoyed and he hates this guy more than everything else in life, more than trains and more than the old evil lady.

“Well, fuck you.” He blurts out, turning around to stare at the guy.

His face is not a pillow, like part of Liam secretly expected, instead he looks like he just jumped out of a fashion magazine cover. _The audacity._ Of course annoying people are all hot, that’s how life works, isn’t it? And then people wonders why Liam is always angry.  

“Excuse me?” Pillow fixates his ridiculously big eyes _–blue of course, never be that incredibly hot people get a simple dark brown, it’s like a law -_ on him, raising a perfectly tidy eyebrow. Even his voice feels hot, all ironic and low and a little raspy. Liam’s voice always sound like a child complaining. Life’s so unfair.

“You can slip your apologizes right up your ass, hot pillow, you’re not even that comfortable, so I don’t know who you think you are, honestly” Liam is keeping his voice low because he already get thrown out of a train once, but he makes sure his hatred is still very clear. “You think people buy pillows based on how they look rather than how comfortable they are? Well, I have bad news for you.”

Liam catches with the corner of his eyes the old lady rummaging in her bag. The picture wasn’t enough apparently, she totally wants to record him now.   

“What?” There are now wrinkles on Pillow’s otherwise smooth forehead. Liam did that. He focuses on it and then on the clearly styled hair: Liam hates people with perfect hair, always had. They look soft and a little messy, but it's just an act, it’s not the messy Liam has on his head when he wakes up on the morning or most of the time actually, the one that makes people think you have dead animals on your head, it’s the sexy messy hair hot people recreate in hours of works. It’s hypocritical, Liam wants to pass his hand between the guy’s hair and mess them all up for real, just out of spice.

“Next time just wake me up.” He mutters because the guy is still staring at him and Liam is not gonna repeat himself. He never does that, mostly because he always forgot what he said as soon as the words leave his mouth.

“So you can still rest on my shoulder while being awake like you were doing a minute ago?” Pillow smirks, derisively. Liam had already noticed his blindingly white tooth and full, vivid lips, and he knew that he would also have a perfectly hot smirk, because why not, right?

He probably gets paid to look hot, while Liam has to work his ass off at the diner every weekend to get money for a new TV –he didn’t _throw_ it, by the way, it just fell all of a sudden when Liam lost at a game for the tenth time, but nobody believes him. Point is, he finds unfair how this guy could probably buy a new TV in a day just by looking all hot and stuff.

And he probably gets paid a lot, like real money, because he looks _real_ hot. It’s not just the hair and the eyes, _he totally wears colored contact lenses by the way, there’s no way that blue is a real eye color_ , it’s not even the lips, _he probably wears lipstick too, he can’t fool Liam,_ and it’s not even the falsely neglected scruffle on the defined jaw or the perfect _boring_ nose and the muscular shoulders and arms barely contained by the leather jacket, _pfff, so stereotypical,_ it’s something else that just permeates every inch of his tanned skin that screams hot in a way Liam’s body never will. Mostly because Liam’s body doesn’t scream and if it did, it will probably be something like _Mc Nuggets._

“You’re so creepy, you were literally watching me sleep. I should call the conductor and have you thrown out of the train” Liam threatens, crossing his arms on his chest while also flexing every single muscle, just to show pillow-face that he’s not the only one who works out. He probably thinks he’s the only hot guy in the world. “You better shut up before I do so.” 

“Oh, and what are you gonna tell him, that I wasn’t comfortable enough?” Pillow chuckles, because he doesn’t know what Liam’s fist can do to his perfect nose.

“Listen, I work hard, okay?” Liam sighs. “I’m just now coming home from a twelve hours turn in factory, so-”

“You’re fifteen, what are you on about.”

“I’m seventeen!”

Pillow raises his eyebrows, eyes full of “ _see?”_.

“And I’m coming home from a very hard Lacrosse training, so I have every right to be tired, not like you who just stand there looking hot while someone takes picture and then gives you money for that. What an hard life, _boo-hoo_.”

Pillow stares at him, pressing his lips together. Liam can’t figure if he’s suppressing a smile or a snarl.

“You have a fervid imagination, maybe that’s why you don’t realize when you’re sleeping on people.”

“I was perfectly aware of it.” Liam lies.

“Oh, yeah?”

“As a matter of fact, yes.”

“So you slept on my shoulder on purpose.” Pillow repeats, skeptical.

“Exactly” Liam nods, defiant. “Because the moment I saw you, I knew you where an annoying smartass, so I planned all this to drool on your expensive leather jacket.”

The guy immediately lowers his eye on his shoulder, like he’s expecting to find a wet spot.

“It dried now, but it’s still there, my dry saliva, with all my germs, right on your shoulder” Liam brags, victorious. “That’s what you get for being annoying, hot pillow.”

He looks taken aback at first, but then he just shrugs.

“Well, maybe I don’t care about your saliva on my jacket.”

“I have diseases” Liam lies again, just like he lied about the TV. _He threw it so fucking hard._ “Several.”

“Yes, but brain disease is not contagious.”

Liam feels the anger boiling in his chest. He wants to punch him so bad, but he can’t get in trouble on the train again, they warned him last time.

“If you’re a real man you’re gonna say that to my face when we get off the train” he growls instead, sinking his nails into his palms. There’s no need to a supernatural sense of smell to see he’s furious right now.  

Hot pillow doesn’t look impressed.“What make you think my stop is the same as yours?”

“If you’re a real man you’re gonna get off at my stop even if it’s not yours, and then say it to-”

“That’s a lot of effort to be a real man, I’ll probably just settle for hot pillow.”

Liam is trying to plan a fight here, but it feels kinda pointless now.

“Then stop annoying me, pillow are supposed to be nice.” He mutters, settling better on his seat. His stop is still far.

“Just when you’re nice to them first.”

“Those are the hippogriffs.”

Liam is looking at the old lady in front of him again – _she’s talking at the phone now. Liam overhears some of it, she has three nephews. She seems nice –_ but he can still feel the pillow’s gaze on him.

“So you like Lacrosse, Harry Potter and my shoulder” He says after a while. “What else do you like?”

“Silent train rides.” Liam answers sharp. He doesn’t plan to add anything, but a few seconds later his lips move again. “And running.”

“I bet you have to do that a lot with that attitude of yours.” He’s wrong. Liam never runs after making people mad, because _that’s_ his attitude. “I’m Theo by the way.”

“I didn’t really ask.” Again, he didn’t plan to add anything, but his mouth has a will of his own. “I’m Liam.”

“Nice to meet you, Liam.” Of course Theo has a perfect smile too.

Liam doesn’t really feels like being angry anymore. He shrugs. “Yeah, whatever.”

Theo stays quiet for awhile. Liam goes back to eavesdrop the old lady’s phone call. It appears that it’s her dog’s birthday that day.

“Wanna go out for a drink tonight?” Theo asks suddenly. He doesn’t look nervous, but not even as confident as expected from someone as hot as him. “If you’re not too tired from your twelve hours turn in factory of course.”

Liam doesn’t even think about it. “I’ll probably be too tired, yeah.”

“Okay.” Theo says and then he falls quiet. They stay in silence for a while and then Theo grabs a backpack. “My stop is next. Goodbye angry hard worker.”

He stands and Liam feels agitation rising in his chest as Theo passes in front of him, heading for the wagon door.

“You can still give me your number!” He grabs his wrist and then he leaves it immediately. He clears his voice. He whised he did it before screaming in the middle of the train. “Just in case.”

Theo smiles and hands a calling card to him.

“Just in case.” He echoes him before turning on his foot and vanishing from his view.

The old lady is not on the phone anymore. She’s smiling.

Liam lowers his eyes on the white cardboard.

  

 

Theo Raken, Beacon Hills bla bla bla, _model._

_Liam fucking knew it._

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

Liam had a _moment_ on the train, when Theo was leaving, his mind just went blank and his lips did their thing all on their own. That’s why Liam found himself with a number on his phone he’s never going to use. It’s not a big deal. There’s a _Hot Pillow_ voice now on his phonebook, so what? It will make for a funny story. It’s not like he actually has to use it or something. To do what? He told the asshole everything he needed to say already. He already knows Liam is not someone you can just mock on the train without consequences. Their crossing paths in life is done now.

_“See, this is what real pillows should look like. Soft, comfortable, nice. The best thing? They don’t complain when you sleep on them, because they have no mouth and even if they had, they’d still be quiet, because they know what their place in life his, under sleeping people, and not on some magazines cover.”_

Liam is mostly okay with deciding things and then doing other things that just contradict immediately all the things previously decided, that’s what he does most of the time and there’s no reason why he should stop now, since none of the unplanned things he did has ever killed him before. So he just sends the message and attaches the picture of his big, comfy bed pillows.

Then he instantly gets mad because Theo doesn’t visualize it right away, even if he’s online.

Of course he doesn’t, he’s one of _those_ people, the ones that always need to make you wait at least a minute or two to let you know that they’re busy and full of other people to talk with.

Liam hates those people more than anything else in the world and what he usually does, at least since Whattsapp started to allow his pettiness, is putting them all in their place by immediately deleting his text before they get a chance to read it entirely. It’s such a perfect revenge, because if someone is actually innocent and really didn’t see your text, then they won’t even notice you deleted something, but if they are one of _those_ people, who see and just wait to open it, they will be desperate and forever wondering what you had sent.

Mason blocked him the second time Liam did that.

Nolan knocked on his door with wet eyes asking him if he was mad when he did that with him. And one hour later Brett knocked on his door too and then knocked Liam on his ass as well.

Liam hates Brett more than anything else in the world.  Like if it was Liam’s fault Nolan is so damn sensitive.

That’s why Liam hasn’t done his evil deleting thing for awhile now, because people overreact, but now he’s totally doing the deleting thing to hot pillow and then he’ll never write to him again.

 

_“But you still like hot pillows better.”_

The text arrives just as Liam deletes his. Oh fuck.

 

“ _Wait, did you just deleted your text because I didn’t reply fast enough? God I can’t breath”_

 _  
_ “ _What are you on about? I still see my text. Consider buying a better phone maybe. And absolutely not, there’s no pillow of yours better than my real pillows.”_

The answer takes a little to come this time.

 

_“Sure?”_

 

When the pictures arrives too, Liam understands why.

 

 

    

 

 

Liam hates this guy.

He can’t believe he just sent him _this_.

How do you even look like this in real life? He probably put so many filters on it, spent hours on photoshop and everything. Actually, he had _other people_ spend hours on photoshop, because that’s what models do. Such an hypocrite. And what is he even doing with his hand? He thinks he looks cool with just one eye? When there are poeple who actually have only one eye? Or maybe he thinks his eyes are so beautiful that one is enough?That's some disrespectful shit right there. _Everything_ in this picture is disrespectful. Liam has never been so disrespected in his life like he is now by that shoulder.  

_God, he's an actual angel._

 

Liam is just glad he was already sitting.

 

_“Yeah, okay, wow, you’re a model, congrats. I know that, you don’t need to send me pics of your photoshoots.”_

_“It’s not from a photoshoot. I just took it._

_For you.”_

 

 

Liam doesn’t want to think about it and he’s very glad when Mason storms in his room.

“I could have been naked” He points out anyway, because his best friend’s habitude of never knocking still pisses him off.

“Exactly” Mason nods going straight to his x-box, a bunch of new games in his hand. “So, ready to get your ass kicked?”

Liam smirks. “That’s funny, Brett said the exact same thing today before I kicked _his_ ass.”

They actually scored equal, but when you’re as smug as Brett a draw still counts as an humiliating failure, Liam guesses. Brett didn’t agree, but Brett doesn’t agree with him as a rule, so it doesn’t matter.

“Wait, you beat him up _again?_ God, Liam, we talked about this.”

Liam sighs. “At Lacrosse, Mason, I kicked his ass _at Lacrosse.”_

He doesn’t correct Mason on the _again_ part, even if he’d like to: he never in his whole life beat up Brett, because it doesn’t count if your supernatural ability make you heal right away. It’s disrespectful to call it a _beating_ , towards all the people who actually got beaten up and have to put up with the bruises after. Brett never gets bruises or broken bones for more than few seconds, just like Liam, so it doesn’t count.

He can’t say that to Mason tough, because Mason has his own strange ideas of what a beating his: he sees a broken nose and some blood and start screaming at the beating, ridiculous.

“Oh, okay. Done anything interesting beside that?”

Liam considers it.

“I slept on a guy.”

Mason immediately stops doing whatever it is he was doing kneeled on his x-box and turns towards him.

“Okay, Liam, I know this whole bisexual thing is still new to you, but listen, the rules with guys are pretty much the same as with girls, you don’t sleep _on_ people, you sleep _with_ them. How was it anyway? Did you use condoms? You know you still have to use them, right? Even if-”

Liam widens his eyes. _He thinks he slept with hot pillow._

“Mason hold on. I literally slept _on_ him.”

Mason shakes a hand dismissively. “You topped, okay, but did you use cond-”

“No, I didn’t use condoms!” Oh God. “Mason, we were _on a train_.”

“You had sex on a train?” Mason never looked at him with so much respect. Liam is a little disturbed by that. “ _So cool_ , let me call Brett.”

“Don’t you fucking dare, Mase!” Liam launches himself on his bestfriend, crushing him on his bed and reaching for his hand. He’s just human, it should be easy, but he’s holding on his phone like his life depends on it.

“For fuck's sake, I didn’t have sex with a guy on a train!” He screams.

“And I’m really grateful about that honey, but dinner’s ready.”

The door, that at some point had been opened, closes behind his mom’s back and Liam wishes to die, just like that, it doesn’t have to be something particularly tragic, he doesn’t expect an heroic death, he’s okay with his body just suddenly shutting down. It happens sometimes, people are fine and then a second later they’re dead. It really makes you put things in perspective.  

“Did you just came out to your mum?”

“I came out to my mum when she entered my room without knocking the other night and found me jerking off in front of super gay porn” Liam admits. “Come out in every sense.” He regrets immediately saying that.“Don’t comment, we’re not talking about that, I don’t know why I said that. It doesn’t exist, it’s not a thing we talk or think about. If Brett founds out somehow I’m gonna tell Corey you have a crush on Brett, I swear.”

“He knows” Mason shrugs. “He has a crush on him as well. We were gonna propose him a threesome, but he’s obsessed with Nolan now. Maybe when they’ll finally get together we’ll ask-”

“You’re not gonna involve Nolan in a foursome.” He glares at his best friend. “ _Ever._ ”  

Liam doesn’t know why he gets so protective of Nolan sometimes. He hates that kid, but he also feels like he’s responsible for him, which is super weird. Mason says it’s because they’re all his pack, which is even weirder, since they’re all human apart from him and Brett, and Liam doesn’t know much about all the werewolf and pack stuff, because the Alpha that bit him barely explained him anything before leaving town, but he’s pretty sure you’re not supposed to hate half of your pack. But then again, Liam hates most people and _it’s true_ that they always find themselves together some way or another and he _did_ save all of their lives at some point –even if with Corey was just stopping him from eating a peanut butter sandwich, which is still a serious threat when you’re allergic to peanut butter.  

“And then he almost wolfed out on this Gabe guy at Sinema” Liam wasn’t listening to him, but he assumes Mason is still talking about Brett, unless he befriended some other werewolf without telling him, which he hopes it's not the case because he would get crazy jealous. “You should have been there, it was intense.”

“Yeah, I hate Gabe too” Liam nods, because he hates Gabe more than anything in the world. “He sucks at Lacrosse.”

“That’s totally why Brett was about to eat his face, yep” Mason chuckles. “But really, Liam, what did you do today, I need to know.”

Liam shrugs. “I fall asleep on a guy’s shoulder on the train. That’s it.”

“And you were both wearing clothes.” It sounds like a question.

“We were on a _train_ , Mason.”

“Right” Mason looks slightly disappointed. Liam is a little frustrated by that, because he’s literally a werewolf and still his life is not exciting enough for his best friend’s expectations. “I mean, you were running naked in front of a _church_ some full moons ago, so I don’t know why you seem to think that trains are more sacred than churches, but fine, no sex. Listen, next time, don’t be so ambiguous about it, okay? I know you’re impatient about all the virginity thing but...”

“You’re the one who’s impatient!” Liam snaps. “Which is so weird by the way. And I’m not a virgin: I had a girlfriend. For _two_ years.” Before she left him with a message two days after the start of their long distance relationship. Liam was sad for a long time after that. Now he’s just _bitter_.

“Your ass doesn’t give a fuck about Hayden, Liam.”

“That’s not how-” Liam indignant response is interrupted by his phone.

He doesn’t even think about it, he just grabs it and unlock it.

 

_Are you gonna send me a nice picture as well, sleepy face? I’m starting to think my selfie ended you._

 

“Oh god, who’s that Greek god on your phone?” Mason whispers over his shoulder, eyes fixed on Theo’s still partially visible picture. “He can end me anytime.”

“He’s the pillow” Liam immediately locks his phone again, tucking it in his pocket. He doesn’t like the way Mason is looking at Theo’s picture. “I mean, he’s the guy I slept on.”

“You should have totally had sex with him on the train.”

Liam feels his cheeks instantly heating up. “Stop.”

“Can you send me the picture? Brett needs to see that.”

Liam is gonna _die_ before Brett comes in any kind of contact with hot pillow.

“Where’s Corey?”

“He’s late, he will be here in a minute. I’ll show him too, don’t worry.”

“I’m not worried and you won’t show this to anyone, because I’m not sending you shit” Liam snorts. Mason smiles, like the crazy person he is.  

“Oh you’re jealous already?” Liam can tell from his voice that he’s _loving_ this. “Tell him.”

“What?”

“Tell him that you’re jealous. Like _, are you sending those hot pics of you to someone else or just me?_ Flirt with him, Liam, come on!”

“Don’t tell me what to do!”

Liam turns off his phone.

 

 

 

Five minutes later he goes to the bathroom and turns it on again.

He starts typing right away.

 

_I’m sure there are tons of little girls who are already sending you selfies._

_I don’t really like little girls, you know. Or big girls. Girls in general._

_What do you mean?_

_You slept on a gay pillow, genius._

_So there are guys sending you pics?_

_Wanna ask me this in person maybe?_

Liam stares at his screen for a long time. Theo starts typing again, but then the suspension points disappear. He must have deleted it. Liam hates when people do that.

_Okay, we can do that._

_I’ll be there in twenty minutes. Wear something nice, I’ll take you dancing._

 

Liam was already wandering what to wear. He doesn’t have that problem anymore, because now he knows he’s gonna wear his consumed Lacrosse t-shirt, be damned if he let hot pillow tell him how to dress.

 

_...can you send me your address?_

Liam was waiting for it, because _he_ didn’t forget, but it arrives only after fifteen minutes. Theo totally remembered it just when he got in the car and Liam finds it incredibly gratifying. He wants to look all cool and collected and he’s just a stupid pillow.

Liam sends him the address grinning at his phone.

 

 

**

 

“Mason, he’s coming here, you need to go.”

“Who’s comin-wait, you mean _he?”_

“Yes _, he_ , so go now.”

Mason moves, but just to put his hands on his shoulders.

“Liam, we’ve been friends for almost ten years now, why _on earth_ do you expect that telling me that the hottest guy I ever seen is coming here is gonna make me leave?”

Mason has a point, so Liam let his eyes glow yellow and he bares his fangs.

“Mason, leave” he growls. Mason jumps back immediately.

“See? _That’_ s gonna make me leave. Now I recognize you. See you tomorrow.”

He walks to the door, but he stops with his hand on the handle, suddenly hesitant.

“Oh, err, Liam? Try not to...you know, if he’s an asshole or something, just _leave_ okay?”

Liam looks at him, confused for a second, and then he gets it.

“Mason, when was the last time I punched someone?” Mason parts his lips and Liam hurries to add: “ _Brett_ doesn’t count! I mean someone human.”

Mason frowns, thinking about it for a few seconds. “Well, I can’t remember actually.”

Liam gives him an eloquent look. “See?”

“But then again, I can’t remember the last time you went out with other humans except me and the others, so...”

“I’m not gonna punch hot pillow okay?” Liam sighs.“He probably has his face insured or something, he’d make me pay tons of money. Now go.”

And Mason goes.

 

 

 

Liam listens for awhile in case Mason just decided to hide in a bush or something, but there’s no heartbeat besides his own, so he just goes back to his room and wears his best pair of black jeans.

They’re jeans, Liam doesn’t really know what makes them his _best_ when they all look alike to him, but Brett always comments about his ass when he wears them – well, he did before Nolan. Now he has eyes for him only, and Liam is grateful for that. Nolan less. Maybe. Liam still didn’t understand that.

His t-shirt kinda covers everything anyway, so it doesn’t really matter. Liam is not gonna get all nice and shit for hot pillow, he’s already too confident for his liking. Liam is gonna put him in his place by wearing his Lacrosse t-shirt, he’s gonna show him who’s really confident. Hot pillow will probably spend so much time preparing himself trying to be at his best and Liam is just gonna show up like that, like he put on the first thing he found, and he’s gonna have all the power.

 

Liam _does_ spend a lot of time in front of the mirror trying to do his hair in a way that looks both hot and natural, but he does it so well hot pillow will never be able to tell.

He’s in the middle of a tough decision – can he really pulls off the natural look if he adds some gel? – when the bell rings, making him jump terrified. He looks at his phone and he can’t believe this guy: he arrived on time. Who does that? Who says _I’ll be there in twenty minutes_ and then comes after twenty minutes and not thirty or thirty-five? _Nobody_ does that. Liam is so pissed right now.

Not adding gel was probably the best decision anyway, but still, he wanted to take it willingly, not be forced into it. Now he’s gonna think about his hair the whole time.  

 

Liam opens the door, his heart racing because why the fuck not, it’s not like he’s trying to look cool and natural, no, and as if that wasn’t enough Theo’s hair look gorgeous.

He’s wearing a leather jacket, a different one than the black one he had that afternoon, because he probably owns tons of them, like all vain people do. This one is dark brown and it looks like someone sewed it right on his skin. Jacket are not supposed to do that, jacket are for cold, this one is to show off. And what’s up with all those rips in his jeans? It’s like a werewolf tried to tear his legs to pieces. Liam can clearly see the tanned skin of his legs in more than one spots and that’s not okay. What a stupid trend. There’s a key shaped necklace that dangles on his chest, brushing the edge of the adherent black tank top that leaves little room for imagination, and Liam’s eyes lingered there so briefly he’s proud of himself.

Then Theo smiles and his teeth are so ridiculously blank in the dark of the evening. Liam almost expect him to pull a toothpaste out of his pocket and start a commercial to sell it. Liam would probably buy it to be honest.

“Hey there.”

"Hey. Hi. I’m Liam. I mean, hi.”

Liam had a plan to look casual and maybe even bored and his plan just went to shit.

Theo seems happy about it.

“I’m Theo” he mocks, holding out his hand.

Liam slaps it away. “I know who you are, fuck off.”

Theo arches his eyebrow – he totally did those too by the way, Liam will never believe that’s his natural shape. His lips are doing the thing they were doing on the train too, the imperceptible arching like he’s smiling while not actually smiling. Liam is deeply disturbed by that. Disturbed is not the right word, but he’s _something._

“Do you need more time to get ready, sleepy face?”  
Liam lifts his chin, defiant. “No, as a matter of fact, I’m ready. And, yes, I wore my Lacrosse jersey because I didn’t want to look nice.” He hopes his eyes are adding a silent _what are you gonna do about it?_ like he’s commanding them to.

Theo shrugs. “Well, you failed.”

“What?”

“If you didn’t want to look nice, you failed, sleepy face” He better stop calling Liam that right now or else he’s gonna- “You _do_ look nice.”

Liam gasps, taken aback. _How dare he._

“But I wasn’t talking about that actually. Is that gel on your hand?”

Liam lowers his eyes.

He’s totally holding the hair gel bottle, that’s what happening right now.

He tries really hard to die, because if some people can move their ears, why can’t he control his heart and make it stop, but he can’t even control what his hands are holding so he has no choice but just keep being alive.

“Hey guys, sorry I’m late, I was- _oh_. Hi.”

Corey’s here. Great. Just great.

 “Didn’t Mason text you?” Liam didn’t intend for his voice to sound so passive-aggressive.

But then again, every time he sounds passive-aggressive and not straight aggressive-aggressive is already a win for him.

Corey blinks. He grabs his phone from his pocket.

“Oh yeah, you’re right, there’s a text” He nods and then he starts reading. Aloud. “ _Change of program, come to my home, not Liam’s. Liam is going out with a Greek god he may or may not had sex with on a train toda_ -oh. Err. That was inappropriate, I’m sorry. I’m gonna go change my name to Inappropriate now, if you wanna excuse me. Good evening.”

Corey leaves. Liam refuses to look at Theo.

“You probably should have told me we were having sex. Was it good?”

Maybe he can’t make his heart stop, but he _can_ claws his own throat out.

 

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I split the date in two (as in: I still didn't write the last part of the date) because Nett sort of take over and Liam is petty and didn't want to share the chapter with them.  
> 

 

“Well, we’re not _that_ friends” Liam says after Corey left. “I’m not even sure if Corey is his real name or if it stands for something else like _Corrinne_ or who knows.”

That will do it, you can’t be held accountable for what a person said if you pretend to not know his name.

“Pretty sure it’s just Corey.” Oh of course hot pillow is pretty sure, he thinks he knows everything.

He’s one of _those_ people.

Liam hates those people more than anything.

“Listen, I have known him for _five years_ , okay? So I know better than you.”

Theo snorts, derisive. “Well, you don’t know the difference between sleeping and having sex, so.”

Liam is so gonna punch him. Not now, but at one point he will. When he less expects it.

And then he’ll bury his hot body somewhere and Mason will never have to know.

“So, are you going to put that thing down before we go or you plan to bring it with you?”

Liam has this clear image in mind of himself hitting hot pillow in the face with his bottle of gel until his nose is not so perfect anymore and there’s more blood on his alleyway than in his veins. His therapist always said he needed to stop having so many violent fantasies, but Liam feels very proud and mature every time he has one, because if he’s imagining about hitting people to death, then it means he’s not _actually_ hitting people to death, which is honestly all his therapist should ask for.

 

 

 

“Nice truck” Liam comments settling on the passenger sit. He’s lying, it’s a truck, it’s blue, Liam has no idea which trucks are nice and which ones are not. But the engine turns on when Theo inserts the key, so it’s nice enough he guesses. “Is it yours?”

“Nah, I just stole it coming here.”

Liam can’t punch him while he’s driving.

“I meant, you bought it or it’s like a present from your parents?”

Theo’s heartbeat does the thing. The Alpha said you can tell when a person is lying just by listening to their heart. It’s not entirely true, Liam learned, because most of the time people’s hearts race and skip beat or stuff like that for the most disparate reasons.

Theo is not lying right now for example, because he’s not even talking, but his heart still does the thing. Liam smells the air, trying to be subtle about it. _Discomfort._

Or maybe it’s hunger, he’s still not sure about some scents.

“Even if it was a present it still would be mine, you know” Theo shrugs. His heart is still doing the thing. “But I bought it with my first salary.”

He smells a little proud now. It makes sense, Liam guesses. _He_ bought candies with his first salary. He really couldn’t afford anything else, because nobody leaves tips to an angry waiter apparently, they all expect for you to lie and pretend you don’t hate them, when there’s nothing in the world Liam hates more than customers. He stillafforded a lot of candies tough.  

“And when was that?” He asks curious.  
“Three years ago” Theo is more difficult to read than most people. His heartbeat is steady now, but he still smells a little tense. “I did my first photoshoot at seventeen and then I started working regularly as a model. A few months later I moved in alone.”

He’s not being cryptic or making Liam force the answers out of his mouth, but there’s still something in the air that catches his attention. Liam thinks he got what topic is making him tense.

“Were your parents happy with that?” He asks casually and _there it is._ Heart, chemosignals, everything matches: _parents._ Liam feels so proud of himself for finding the hot topic right away, he’s getting good at this werewolf thing. Then he feels a little bad because the car reeks of discomfort and _he_ did that.

“Yes, they were happy.” The weird thing is that Theo is not lying when he says that, even if his scent is even more filled with signals now. Sadness and grief and...guilty.

Maybe that’s Liam’s, because he feels such an asshole. It shouldn’t be a game.

Theo’s lips are not doing the smiling without actually smiling thing anymore and Liam hates himself more than anything.

“So, I had to spend a night in a Bed and Breakfast one time” Liam says, trying to clean up the car from all those depressing scents. They’re making him sick. “Because I fell asleep on the train and I missed my stop and the twenty stops after that and I woke up at the terminus at eleven in the evening. Mon still thinks I lied to go partying and drinking all night somewhere.”

There’s a puff of air coming from Theo’s lips now and Liam can immediately feel _amused_ caressing his nostrils. He likes the smell of fun, it’s inebriating and contagious, which is the only reason he started laughing at Corey’s sad jokes since he became a werewolf. Mason always laughs too even if he usually smells more aroused than amused.   

“I had to wash plates and pretend to love the owner’s cats, because I didn’t have any money. She believed me and let me crush there for free and she also asked me to call her grandma.”

Liam didn’t do that, because he feared his dead grandma’s ghost would have rouse and hunt him if he did, but he liked that old lady. Mostly because she was full of hate for all the other customers except him and she only loved her cats, which Liam can understand even if he didn’t love them at all.  

“What do you mean you had to _pretend_ to love her cats.”

The prickly smell of indignation suddenly stings his nose. Oh, so Theo is one of _those_ people. Great.

“I hate cats.”

Now it’s pure outrage. “Nobody hates cats.”

“I hate cats more than anything.”

Liam doesn’t actually hate cats. There are cats he loves, the fat ones for example, or the ones that bullies dog and children. He respects that. And he likes how the soft hair of the fluffy ones feels under his fingertips, but he loves more the indignant faces he gets out of people when he says he doesn’t like cats. He thinks he should be allowed to hate them if he wants, just like some people hates iguanas.

Nobody ever looks at people who says that they hates iguanas the way Theo is looking at him right now. It’s unfair.

“Iguanas are so much better than cats.”

Theo looks a little confused by that. Of course he doesn’t know how to reply, because that’s just the truth. Iguanas are the real deal.  

“I bet you’d love my cat.”

Of course hot pillow has a cat. All hot people do. They take pictures with them to look even hotter. So predictable.

He moves his left hand from the steering wheel and Liam just _knows_.

Exactly, look at him, taking his phone from his pocket. He’s gonna show Liam a picture of his cat now, like a proud parent, like all pets owner always do when they inform you they have a pet.

Liam hates that, because his parents never allowed him something bigger than a fish and nobody ever wants to see pictures of his red fish floating in his bow. Liam hates his red fish and all red fishes in general. They never do anything funny, like pushing objects from the table or chasing their tail. They don’t even look cute, you can’t fill your gallery with pictures of your red fish or people immediately thinks you’re weird, that’s what Mason said at least, right before making Liam delete twenty pictures of Scott. Of course a gallery full of  _iguanas_ would be a totally different matter.

Hot pillow is holding out his phone to him now and Liam is ready to see one of those beautiful cat who’s face is made of two different colors, because that’s the only kind of cat hot pillow can have.

Liam raise his hand and Theo totally grazes his fingers on purpose letting him take his phone.  

 

 

 [](https://data.whicdn.com/images/200544277/large.jpg) 

 

 

Liam can’t believe this guy.

He totally did this on purpose as well by the way, he probably has tons of picture with _just_ his cat, but no, he _had_ to choose one with him too, as if Liam wasn’t sitting right next to him and couldn’t see him already. It’ simply inacceptable. He’s in bed again and there’s a pattern here. He’s also naked under that blanket, Liam decides, because there’s no other option. Liam tries not to think about that and he’s deeply glad he’s the only one with a supernatural nose in the car right now.

There’s a cat in the picture too.

Liam tries to look at it but his eyes just keep falling back on hot pillow’s jaw and then his smile and his eyes and his hairs and then all over again. Liam wants to punch him.

And what’s up with the one eye thing again? Can he just show one eye per picture? Does the cat knows that? So weird.

“She’s Athena.”

Liam immediately stop staring at the picture and gives the phone back.

“Yeah, she’s pretty.”

Or at least Liam guesses.  

“She’s my princess.” Why is he so cheesy now? Disgusting. _God he’s adorable._

“I have a goldfish.”Liam would take his phone out as well, but he doesn’t have a perfect, both sweet and hot selfie with Scott, because that’s something that it’s precluded to him. He tried, he thought it would be easy since a fish is not a cat or a dog and you don’t even need to try to make them stay still in front of the camera, but it turned out the fish wasn’t the problem: Scott looked great, shiny flakes and everything, but Liam’s face next to the bowl was ugly and stupid. He never looks good in pictures. He probably shouldn’t even be allowed near a model. “He died last month.”

Theo starts laughing and Liam can’t believe his ears right now. That’s why he hates people, he can’t say he hates cats without people looking at him like he’s the devil but then hot pillow goes and does that.

“Why are you laughing?” He growls, offended.

“I’m sorry, it’s just the way you said it” Theo chuckles, not looking sorry at all. “I’m sorry. Do you miss him?” He still doesn’t look sorry. He’s smiling and his lips are getting paler pressed against each other, probably holding another burst of laughter.

“I didn’t like him very much” Liam admits. “He never did anything, he just floated around the bowl. I think he was depressed.”

Liam doesn’t know what’s so fun about his fish’s mental struggle, but there’s no track left of the uncomfortable scents that filled the car earlier, so he guesses it’s fine.

 

  

 

 

“I’m gonna go get something to drink.”

“Okay.”

Liam is not sure what he’s supposed to do now.

It’s not like he has something to do or someone to talk to, they just entered the club and it’s just the two of them and a bunch of strangers – it’s not the first time Liam comes to Sinema, but he’s not like Brett who knows everyone, so he just stands there staring at Theo walking towards the bar. It would make sense to follow him and wait for the drinks together, but he said _he_ ’s going, not _we_ , so Liam can’t really go with him or else he’ll seem desperate and clingy.

He seems both things anyway when Theo reaches the bar and looks back and catches Liam right there in the middle of his staring thing. Liam sees his chest shaking a little and he’s bored by the loud music and voices that keep him from hearing his laugh. When Theo talks to the bartender, a few seconds later –because of course he’s one of those people who get served right away, unlike Liam who waits ages everytime – Liam walks away, because he can’t let Theo find him right where he left him now. He needs to find someone to talk to, so Theo will have to look for Liam and then he’ll find him busy with other people and _he_ ’ll be the clingy one.

There's just one person is sure he’ll find here almost every night and he doesn’t like the idea to actually _look_ for him, because they always just happened to spend time together, they don’t _plan_ it, but not looking clingy with hot pillow is more important, so he starts walking around the club looking for Brett. He can’t find him anywhere, because of course the only time he needs him he’s not there, but in return he finds Nolan, sitting in a corner looking miserable.

“Hey Nolan, tell me something funny, quick!”

Nolan glances at him and then comes back to his sad staring at the void. “My life sucks.”

Liam starts laughing exaggeratedly because it doesn’t matter if Nolan doesn’t know how to be funny, what matters is that if Theo finds him now he’s gonna see him having fun with someone else. This will do it. Having fun isn’t enough tough, because you can do that with everyone, Liam needs to show that he can engage a serious conversation as well in matter of seconds.

“Why does your life sucks, Noley?”

Nolan hates when Liam calls him that and he will probably nudge him in the ribs or something now, which is good, because it will show confidence, it will show that Liam didn’t just find some stranger to talk to, he actually knows so many people that he found a friend there.

Nolan doesn’t even flinch, still staring the same spot in the distance.

“Brett is hitting on that hot guy.”

Liam freezes. He knows even before turning around.

Theo is holding two untouched glasses and he’s listening to Brett, who’s standing too close to him, all flirtatious and stuff. Liam is so gonna punch him for that, but not now. He had a plan, Theo was supposed to come and find him talking to another guy, not the other way around. He’s not going to walk there and punch Brett and look all jealous and stuff, no way.

He’s gonna make Nolan do it.

“Nolan, what the hell are you still doing here?”

Nolan shrugs and the scent of sadness overpowers for a second the one of alcohol and sweaty bodies. Liam is even angrier at Brett now. “What am I supposed to do? He’s not my boyfriend.”  

Liam snorts. “That’s just because you keep saying no every time he asks you out.”

“Because it’s fun!” He replies passionate. It actually makes sense in Nolan’s head, Liam realizes. Such a weird kid.“I like when he asks me out.”

“Okay Nolan, but you can’t refuse him and then expect him to keep drooling over you and be blind to everyone else, you know.” He just needs to be blind in front of his fucking pillow or else Liam is gonna claw his eyes out.

“Why not? I thought I could!” Nolan wines. He reeks of vodka. Liam really wants to punch Brett.  “That’s what we were doing until now, why is it different all of a sudden?”

“He’s obviously trying to make you jealous.”

Nolan huffs. “Well, he succeeded it.”

Good. This is good. Liam can use this.

“Go tell him. Go make a scene, come on, it’s what he wants.”

Nolan crosses his arms. “No.”

Liam is dying from the need to turn around again, but he’s not gonna stare at them, not until Nolan start screaming at Brett and then he’ll stare with the rest of the club.  
“Nolan, as your captain, I _command_ you to go and make a scene.”

“We’re co-captain.”

“That’s just because your mom started dating Coach, you cheated!” Liam is never gonna get over that.  

Noland doesn’t seem to care. “I’m still co-captain.”

“Fine” Liam sighs.“Actually, you’re right. Don’t make a scene. Be subtle about it” He looks around, eyes running on the dance floor. Then he points a drunk guy only wearing a pair of jeans. “See that shirtless guy, Noley? Go over there and start dancing with him. Rub yourself over him and everything. Brett will go crazy.”

It’s a great plan and unlike the majority of Liam’s plans it actually seems to work, because Nolan immediately stand up, eyes on the shirtless guy and a determined face. Perfect.

“Wait, don’t go dancing with that guy, Nolan, what the hell _,_ you don’t even know who he is, he could be dangerous, what’s wrong with you.” Liam just sabotaged himself, but he doesn’t let go of Nolan’s arm until he sits back on the couch. _Kids these days._  

“Who do you want to dance with, Freckles?”

Liam winces, startled. Brett is right behind him, a smirk tilting his lips.

“That guy” Nolan answers immediately, visibly satisfied. “He’s _so_ hot.”

Theo is a couple of steps behind him and he immediately makes eyes contact, arching his eyebrows a little. Liam hold his gaze trying to remember what his plan was.

“Oh is that so, Freckles?” Brett grins, sitting next to Nolan and casually placing one arm on his shoulders. “Then what are you waiting for? Go dance with him, I’m sure he’ll like you.”

Nolan looks hesitant for a second and then he moves to stand up. “Yeah, well, I think I will actually.”

“Are you sure?” Brett grabs his hand and pulls slightly. Nolan doesn’t look so resistant because he falls on his lap a second later. “He seems like a nice guy, it would be a pity if I had to kill him.”

“They’re ridiculous” Liam decrees walking away from the couch when they’re still flirting. Theo follows him.   

“Are they your friends?” He asks, voice loud to overtop the music. He doesn’t know Liam can hear him just fine.

He shakes his head, taking the drink Theo is offering. “No, they’re just some guys I spend a lot of time with.”

Theo smiles. “So they’re your friends.”

“I wouldn’t say _friends_.”

Theo chuckles. “Okay. Wanna dance?”

Liam doesn’t, actually. How do you dance with someone like hot pillow? He can’t dance with him like he dances with Mason, like he’s being electrocuted and loving it. And he can’t dance like he does when he’s drunk and he just wants to make out with someone, not with hot pillow. He should probably dance like Brett is dancing with Nolan right now, all flirtatious and subtle but never too direct, with the light stroking and the eye contact. And the ass squeez- _nevermind._   

“Sure” He shrugs. “Just...after I finish my drink. I hate when people dance with full glasses and pour their drink everywhere. So disrespecting. They should be fined.”

Theo smiles, taking a long sip of his bright red liquid. “Okay.”

Liam clears his voice, scratching his cheek. He looks around and catches a glimpse of the shirtless guy making out with a shirtfull dude. He meets Theo’s eyes again. They look different in the lighting of the club, his light blue almost icy.

He slightly tilts his head to the side. “Wanna get out instead? Take a hot chocolate or something?”

Liam smiles, leaving his untouched drink on a little table. “Yes.”

 

 

 

 


	4. Chapter 4

 

“You weren’t having fun” Theo takes a long sip of his milkshake and Liam can’t find in him to deny it. “Not a nightclub type?”

Liam buries his face in his cup of hot chocolate before answering. 

“I am actually” He doesn’t know why he finds so satisfying contradicting him. “But you’re not supposed to go to a nightclub with someone you just met, because what’s the point if you can’t even hear them and you have to scream? Like, I can go with Mason  and Corey or Brett and Nolan, because I already know them, so it’s okay even if I don’t hear them, I don’t actually _need_ to, especially Brett, I never need to hear Brett, not ever, but-”

Theo smirks. “But you need to hear me.”

He probably thinks he’s being brilliant, all confident and stuff, with that yellow stain of banana milkshake right above his upper lip. Liam feels very sneaky and content not telling him. 

“That’s not what-”

“Nah, I agree. Of course, you can also go to the club with someone you don’t know and just make out and then have sex, without needing to hear them a single time, but that’s not what we’re doing.”

Liam swallows. “It’s not.” He didn’t intend for it to sound like a question. Of course it’s not. “What is it that we’re doing exactly?” He adds very casual.

Theo shrugs like it’s obvious. “We’re on a date.”

“What?” Liam’s eyes widen. What the hell is he talking about? “No, we’re not.”

“ _Yes,_ _we are._ I asked you and you said yes and now we’re on a date.” Theo frowns. “You didn’t know?”  
Liam gasps. “No, I didn’t! You never used the word d-”

“Well, now you know.” Theo shrugs and then stares at him expectantly.

Liam swallows again, nervous. Why is he looking at him like that now? What is Liam supposed to do? How can this be a date if he didn’t know? Did Brett and Nolan know this was a date? Did the waitress know? Oh, Mason knew, Liam can bet on it, the little shit knew and didn’t tell him.

Liam clears his throat, buying himself some time. He needs a new plan now. “ _So_.”

The sudden scent of annoyance hits his nose.  “Well, I can take you home if you want.” Theo shrugs, failing at looking casual. He’s _so_ offended. Liam holds back a giggle. “It’s not like I want to be on a date with someone who doesn’t want to be on a date with me.”

“Oh don’t be dramatic now, I didn’t say I don’t _want to_ ” Liam snorts. “I’m just letting you know that you need to be more specific when you ask people out. Misunderstandings are a thing, you kno-”

“So, will you go on a date with me?” Theo cuts him off, impatient.

He smells a little agitated now. Cute. 

“Yes, hot pillow, I’ll go on a date with you.” Liam answers slowly, trying not to sound too mocking.

 _Relief._ Theo crosses his arms on his chest. “Good, because you’re already here.”

“No I wasn’t, because I didn’t knew” Liam specifies, because he’s not gonna have Brett hitting on Theo on their first date. “But now I know, so I’m here.”

“Oh, you just arrived.”

“Exactly.”

“Ehy.” Theo grins, holding out his hand. “I’m Theo.”  

“ _Ah-ah_.” Liam pushes his hand away, but slower this time, grabbing his palm softly and putting it back on the other side of the table, next to his Milkshake’s cup. Then he steals the Milkshake and takes a long sip, because everybody knows that chocolate and banana work well together.

Theo stares at him and then twitches his lips in a little smile. “So you walked till here? Since you _just_ arrived.”

“Yes, I don’t drive yet.”

Theo shrugs. “I guessed I’ll have to give you a lift home with my nice truck then.”

“I mean, sure, but is this a speed date or what, I just arrived and the first thing you do is offering me a lift back home?”  

“I don’t mean _now-_ ”

“And you showed up to our date with banana milkshake on your face by the way.”

“Oh did I now?”

“Yep.”

Theo doesn’t look or smell embarrassed like people should when they have drinks on their face. He slowly leans over the table, bringing his face closer to Liam’s.

“Are you going to gently wipe it off with your fingers while staring in my eyes?” He grins, slightly biting his lower lip. Liam doesn’t think he should be allowed to do such a thing. “Do I also have something in my eye? An eyelash on my cheeck maybe?”

He chuckles and Liam violently throws a paper towel to his face. It immediately sticks to the milkshake stain under his nose and Theo complains, but he’s lucky Liam threw just one napkin and not the tin box as well like he did in his head.

He also kissed him, after, in his head, but this doesn’t really matter.

 

 

***

 

The park avenues lined with threes are barely illuminated by the dim golden balls of the street lamps and they totally deserve to die now. There’s probably someone in another universe screaming at them through the screen of his T.V. wondering why literally everyone in horror movies is so stupid. Liam doesn’t have an answer for that, he just didn’t want to go back to Sinema and the park seemed like a good idea. It also seems like the set of a horror movie of course and  the point is, Liam’s life feels like a horror movie most of the time, so it’s okay, he guesses.

It actually makes sense now, it explains how Theo can be so hot for example: he’s the main character of this horror movie and the main characters are always unrealistically attractive, because they need to look good even when covered in blood and guts.

Liam glances briefly at Theo, walking next to him, and concludes that yes, he would totally look hot covered in human entrails.

“What are you thinking about?”

Liam decides to not be specific about it. _You’d look good covered in guts_ is probably not the best compliment.

“Who will die first.” He says instead and Theo’s eyes widens. “ _Would_ , I mean who _would_ die first if we were in a horror movie.”

Theo looks relieved that Liam is not plotting to murder him and Liam just now remembers that if they were in a horror movie he would probably be the claws and fangs equipped monster trying to devour the hot protagonist, since he already kinda is, except for the devouring Theo part. He’s not gonna eat hot pillow. Well, unless he asks him to. 

“Probably you, since your legs are so short.” Theo chuckles.

Liam emits an outraged sound. _This little shit._

“You’re gonna need a lot more than _two_ inches more than me if you think you can beat me.”

Theo smirks, confident. “Oh _I know_ I can beat you.”

Liam is going to have fun teaching this smug pillow a lesson. He’s going to make him spit all his goose feathers. 

“Yeah? Show me, hot pillow” He grins, pointing with his head at the empty path in front of them, ending in a curve. “Who reaches the fountain first wins.”

“Which fountain?”

“There’s a fountain further on, run and you’ll see it. You’ll recognize it because I’ll be sitting on it.”

Theo shakes his head, snickering. “Keep dreaming, short legs.”

Liam doesn’t reply, he just starts counting. “Three, two, one...go!”

Theo starts running without looking behind. He’s fast. Liam watches him for a few seconds and he’s tempted to give him an even bigger advantage so he can properly humiliate him, but that wouldn’t fall in the whole _not let people know you have supernatural abilities_   category, and Mason keeps reminding him that this is a very important category in his life, or at least it should, so he just starts running as well. He joins Theo, keeping his speed with little effort, and he waits for him to make eye contact, visibly surprised. 

“See you later” He smiles then, before sprinting and leaving him behind.

 

 

 

Liam waits sitting on the edge of the fountain for a few minutes before starting to worry.

Maybe _they are_ in a horror movie and their _let’s see who would die first_ just turned into  _he actually died first_. What if something _ate_ hot pillow? It doesn’t really make sense from a movie logic point of view, because the protagonist should survive a little longer, but Liam is a _werewolf,_ do they _need_ to be in a movie for hot pillow to be eaten alive? What if another werewolf just showed up, saw hot pillow running and ate him? Who’ll look after his cat now that he’s dead? What if Mason thinks _he_ killed him? Liam’s mind is racing through thousands of different scenarios and he’s just about to stand up and run back looking for hot pillow’s body when hot pillow suddenly appears from the corner, his pillowcase all panting and sweaty.

Liam feels both relieved and aroused at the same time.

“Oh, you’re alive” His voice echoes through the desert park, sounding like Liam didn’t just spend the past few seconds in total panic, which is good. 

Theo jogs up to him, leaning his palms on the edge of the fountain. Liam is happy that nothing ate his pillow and he feels magnanimous, so he decides to let him catch his breath without mocking him like he’d deserve.  

“How did you do _that_.” Theo puffs after a while, still a little breathlessly.

“I play Lacrosse” Liam shrugs. “I run a lot almost every day.”

“Yeah, I run too, that wasn’t running, that was...”

“Crazy what short legs can do, isn’t it?” Liam grins, swinging his legs. He needs to distract him now, Mason is gonna get _so_ angry if he gets himself discovered just to win a race. “So what did I get for winning?”

Theo sits next to him –more like he lets himself fall on the fountain - and sighs.

“You get to live while I’m being cut to pieces by a guy with a chainsaw. Enjoy.”

Liam chuckles, shouldering him lightly. “Don’t worry, hot pillow, I’ll grab you before running away if we do end up in a horror movie, since you’re so slow and everything.” He has been so mature till now, but he can’t just help himself. “I bet my goldfish can run faster than you. _And he’s dead_.”

Next thing he knows is that he’s submerged in cold water.

Turns out Theo is not so slow.

 

 

***

 

“I can’t believe you did that. That was _so_ rude. I hope you drown in your own sweat you fucker.”

The continuous hum of the drier doesn’t cover Theo’s unpunished giggles.

It’s two in the morning and they have been in the bathroom of a diner for the past twenty minutes. Liam still feels a little humid everywhere. He should have just make Theo take him home, wet his truck’s seats during the drive, change himself with his dry, warm pajama and then go to sleep. But for some reason is still stuck in a smelly bathroom with a sore loser who pushed him into a fountain.

 “You showed up late to our date, you’re the rude one.”

“That’s because I didn’t know we had a date.” Liam mutters finally walking away from the drier. He still doesn’t feel completely comfortable in his clothes and his shoes still produce a ridiculous wet _splat_ at every step he takes, but the waitress just popped out of the door for the third time in ten minutes and Liam has had enough. They probably think they want to have sex in their bathroom or something.

Liam orders a chocolate milkshake because he has just been thrown into a fountain and he earned it, and Theo orders one as well because he’s an asshole just like that. They walk along the sidewalk next to each other for a while, exchanging their milkshakes even if they’re exactly the same and making small talks.

“So, Lacrosse, Harry Potter, running, iguanas... _swimming_ ” Liam growls and Theo chuckles. “What else do you like?”

And that’s all he needs: Liam talks about his love for history until he’s sure he bored even himself, but Theo is not making all the faces and the exasperated sounds Mason and Corey always do when he gets lost in his love for his favorite subject, he just walks next to him, silently listening. He’s looking at Liam very assorted and that’s when Liam stops talking because he’s probably thinking about throwing him into another fountain to make him shut up.

“What” He grunts, defensive. If he tries that Liam is gonna make him regret it.

“Nothing” Theo shrugs, still looking at Liam like he’s some math equation he’s trying to solve. “I’m impressed.”

Liam didn’t expect that, but he likes it, especially the part where he doesn’t risk another bath anytime soon. He likes it so much that he immediately wants to impress hot pillow again.

“You know what we could do?” He whispers conspiratorial, excitement pumping through his veins.“Go to an exploration! There’s a wood near my school, I mean, you don’t live too far, I’m pretty sure you know the reserve, so listen, we can grab a torch, keep the horror movie vibe alive and go all explorers and stuff in the woods, it’ll be-”

 _“No!”_ Theo almost growled that, but what really startles Liam is the wave of different scents that suddenly hits his nose. Fear, grief, guilty, anger, Liam can barely distinguish them. _“_ No woods _.”_

Liam automatically takes a step back, trying to walk away from the overabundance of chemosignals he’s getting right now. He’s not even smelling the air, he’s just _breathing_ , but he’s still overwhelmed by them. He feels sick.

“Okay” He nods, trying not to sound nauseated like he is. “I mean, it’s pretty late, you wanna go home maybe?”

Theo immediately shakes his head, heartbeat rising.

“No, I _want_ to do something, just not...can’t we do the explorers stuff here?”

Liam looks around. They obviously can’t, but he can’t have hot pillow smelling like that so he still nods. “Okay, sure. Let’s explore this...illuminated street.”

Theo sighs. Embarrassment adds to the mix. “I’m sorry. It’s just, I don’t like woods. I-”

“It’s okay. No woods, got it.” Liam thinks quickly, because he doesn’t want to make a big deal out of this, since it obviously already is. “What about the abandoned zoo?”

He waits to see if the word _zoo_ triggers another wave of emotions, but there’s actually a glimpse of relieve instead. _It’s just parents and woods then._

“Sure, let’s go to the zoo.”

 

 

*** 

 

The drive to the zoo is mostly silent. Theo talks and everything but he looks a little out of it and he still smells off, even if not as strong as before. A part of Liam really wants to _know_ and keeps thinking about it. _Parents_ and _woods_ , as in _my parents died in the woods_? But why the guilty then? And he wasn’t lying when he used the present talking about his parents sooner. Another part of Liam just cares about finding a way to erase completely every trail of those scents from Theo. Maybe he should push him into a fountain as well.  

“I bet there are some drug dealers here” He says happily getting out of the car. “Which will throw us right into an action movie rather than a horror one, but they could still shoot us, so it’s cool.”

“Why an action movie?” Theo frowns, but he smells amused again. “Are we here to arrest them? Did you leave your twelve hours turns in factory to became a cop, sleepy face?”

“No, but they don’t know that.”

They also don’t know that an abandoned zoo in the middle of the night is the perfect place for drug dealers apparently, because they’re clearly not there. Theo can’t hear the absence of other heartbeats tough, so it’s still fun. Liam knows this place like his own pockets, that’s where he used to come hiding after his worst outbursts. His mom and stepdad had to chase him for five hours among tunnels, climbs and cages after he trashed his old coach’s car. He let them find him at the end, in the lions cage because Liam has always been a little of a drama queen. 

On the outside, with the cool air that caresses their skin, Theo’s chemosignals are not so strong like they were in the car, but Liam can still catch occasional glimpses of something wrong. It’s mostly just embarrassment now: he’s probably still thinking about his reaction sooner and what Liam made out of it.

Sometimes having a supernatural nose sucks. Liam sighs, slightly frustrated. 

“Should I say something about your hair?” He says and Theo stops snooping around to give Liam a questioning look. “Since we’re on a date, you know. You said I look nice, because you knew it was a date and that’s what’s you’re supposed to do when on a date, but I didn’t know I was in one, so I didn’t say anything.”

“Well, you called me _hot_ pillow until now.” Theo smirks. “I think I’ll take it.”

Liam blinks. “That’s not a compliment.”  

Honestly, only hot pillow with his feathered brain could take that as one. Of course, there’s the _hot_ part - which means nothing by the way, the sun is hot too, but stating that doesn’t mean you’re hitting on a giant ball of gas like some horny astrologer. And most important, there’s the _pillow_ part as well, and you don’t kiss pillows except for when you’re twelve and trying to get the basic of kissing, and so the _pillow_ part undoes the _hot_ part since they come together, you can’t just pick one part over the other. Also, hot pillows suck, especially in the summer.    

Theo is staring at him. “Then make me a compliment.”

Now that he has been told to do it, Liam’s first instinct is to _not_ do it, but Theo’s voice sounded so challenging and mocking, like he was implicating a silent “ _I bet you can’t_ ” and now Liam needs to find the most flattering compliment that has ever been delivered.

“Funnily enough, that’s exactly what I intend to do.” Just wait for it hot pillow _._ Liam is going to compliment the shit of him. He’ll never see it coming. “Your” He clears his voice. _Your what. The hair, right. He can’t go wrong if he goes with the hair. “_ Your hair are...styled.”

Liam didn’t find the most flattering compliment ever, okay, but Theo’s lack of reaction is insulting. Why is he staring at him all still and unimpressed like Liam hasn’t spoke at all? Why isn’t he blushing all flattered? Isn’t that how compliments works?

“You’re terrible at this.” Theo finally decrees, because sure, let’s just blame others for our own lack at appropriately accepting compliments, why not. Such an hypocrite.

“At least I can run” He retorts. “And you’re terrible as well.”

Theo snorts. “I am not, I know how to make compliments.”

“You don’t, you can barely receive t-”

“I didn’t wake you on the train today because I was distracted by how beautiful you are.”

Theo’s heart is steady.

Liam gasps.

He can’t believe he just said that. That pillow has _a nerve._

What is he even supposed to say now?

“Shut up!”

Probably not that.

Theo chuckles, as if it was a game or something.“Are you _mad_ because I called you beautiful?”

“I’m confused, not mad” Liam’s lips specify before he can stop them from doing so. “Well, I get mad when I’m confused.” Or when he’s scared, or hungry, or anxious or most of the time to be honest. But Theo doesn’t need to know that now.

Theo slips his hands in his pocket, slowly taking some steps closer. Liam observes his moves warily.

“And what is confusing you?” Theo’s voice is so slow and low now, he’s probably doing it in purpose because he thinks it makes him look even more attractive or something. Hot people are never happy, they always want to be hotter and break other’s people brains. So selfish and disrespecting. It’s working tough. 

“You” Liam is infact saying, having lost every remaining link between his brain and his lips. “I look at you and it’s ridiculous, are you even real? What do you think you’re doing going around looking like _that?_ ” Liam would love for his voice to sound all sexy and collected as well, but he doesn’t need his werewolf ears to know that it sounds just frantic. “And every time you talk I don’t know if I want to punch you or kiss you.”

“Then let’s find out.” Theo stands right in front of him, hands still in his jeans pockets and eyes fixed on Liam’s. There’s no trace left of the scent of embarrassment he could still smell before.  

Liam clears his throat, hesitant. “What do you mean?”

“Step closer” Theo says and Liam swallows. “And do what you want to do most, punch me...or kiss me.”

 

 

 

 

Liam punched him.

He didn’t want to, he didn’t _planned to_ while he was stepping closer to him, it just happened.

He was there and hot pillow was there and his lips were there as well and Liam panicked.

“You told me _, you!”_ He repeats heated because this is _not_ his fault. He didn’t even hit that hard honestly, it was more of a light slap on Theo’s nose with his hand closed in a fist.   

“Because I thought you were gonna _kiss_ me!” Theo’s voice doesn’t sound so collected and sexy anymore. It’s a mix of nasal, shocked, angry, pained and scandalized. It’s a little funny, but Liam knows that’s a very inappropriate thing to think right now.

“I _wanted_ to!”

“Then why the hell did you _-fuck, I think you broke my nose.”_ Theo leans on a parapet with his hands pressed on his face, folding himself in two and moaning like he’s dying. He looks like he has being shot by those drug dealers. Multiple times. 

To someone less compassionate and mature than Liam he’d probably look funny. Not that Liam would know.

“I’m sorry” He says and he really is, even if he’s pretty sure he didn’t broke his nose and there’s only one drop of blood, like, literally one. “You _did_ told me, I stand by that, but I’m _so so_ sorry, please believe me. I...okay, wait, let me help.” Liam grabs his elbow, turning him towards himself while Theo complains like lying belly down on the parapet is this important thing he needs to do. Liam pushes his hands away from his face and then he mentally curses his short sleeves.   

“Close your eyes” He orders, still holding his hands to keep them from going back to his nose.

Theo doesn’t do it obviously. “Unless you’re a doctor I really doubt you’ll-” Liam covers his eyes with his hand, ignoring his annoyed puff, as he tightens his other hand on Theo’s fingers. The black veins immediately starts to slither across his arm. “Wait, what’s happening. It...it doesn’t hurt anymore.”

Liam let his hand slip away from Theo’s confused eyes and shrugs. “I guess I have a magical touch.”

Theo blinks, touching his nose like he didn’t even hear him. “This is weird.”

“It’s not even broken, you were just overreacting.” Liam is not technically lying to be fair.

“No, it _did_ hurt like hell and now suddenly it’s all gone. Definitely weird.”

“It’s a magic trick, I covered your eyes so you can’t see pain now. My grandma thought me.”

One day Liam’s grandma is going to resurrect and beat the shit out of him with a pan for every single time he made up stuff about her. She’s going to be particularly angry over the fact that his lies are always terrible.  

“This is weird” Theo repeats not even acknowledging his excuse.

Liam doesn’t really worry about that, because _this is weird_ doesn’t sound like _you’re a werewolf_ , not even a little. 

 

 

***

 

“Here, put it on your nose.”

Liam hands Theo a lemon ice pop and sits on the bench next to him. The bar’s clock marked three in the morning and they still haven’t talked about going home or anything like that. Liam wonders if their date is just going to last forever.

Theo eyes the ice pop without taking it. “It doesn’t hurt anymore.”

“It’s red and it could still swell if you don’t put ice on it.”

Theo sighs, pressing the packed ice pop on the bridge of his nose, wincing at the coldness. Then he stares at Liam’s hands. “Why two?”

Liam shrugs and unwraps his own ice pop, bringing it to his mouth.

They sit there for awhile, Liam licking his ice pop and Theo keeping his on his nose, not looking funny at all, not to Liam at least, since he’s not a bad person. It’s taking all his strength not to laugh in his face.

“I think there’s something wrong.” Theo sighs dramatically. Liam raises a brow. “It _should_ hurt, at least a little. Instead I feel nothing. I don’t think it’s good when you don’t feel a part of your body anymore after it has been punched. I think it’s bad.”

Liam chuckles. “Are you upset because you’re not in pain anymore, hot pillow?”

Theo shakes his head, apparently very offended by his concern not being taken seriously. Then he stares while Liam sucks absently his orange ice pop.

“Are you going to offer or not?”

Liam wasn’t going to, to be honest. He doesn’t like to share his food, especially his sweets, and Theo already has his own ice pop. But then again, he can’t really open it while it’s on his nose and Liam _did_ punch him, so...

“Just a lick” He warns, handing it to him. Theo doesn’t take the stick in his hands, he just bring his mouth closer to the little colored rectangle and he licks it from the base to the tip. Slowly.

Liam suddenly feels like he should punch him again, stronger this time, but he just takes back the ice pop and he gives it a quick lick, clean and short like normal people do. Then he totally wants to suck it because that’s the only way to deeply enjoy the orange taste of the ice, but he can’t do it now, because hot pillow had to go and do _that_ and now Liam feels incredibly self conscious about the way he eats his sweet. It’s painful, because it’s right in front of him and licking it is not enough, it’s just a tease, it doesn’t satisfy him, but that’s all he can do. He ends up biting it.

He raises his eyes and Theo is staring at him, insistently. Liam sighs and extends him the ice pop again. Theo hides a little smile while he licks it. He doesn’t seem worried about not feeling his nose anymore.

After a while it becomes automatic, Liam’s arm moves instantly after every lick, bringing the ice pop close to Theo’s mouth so he can take one as well. They’re exchanging so much saliva they’re basically kissing. Liam widens his eyes, hit by the realization.

“Did we just kissed?”

“No, it’s called a punch.”

“I mean- _whatever_. Are you still mad for that?“ Liam tries to discreetly smell the air but all he can sense is the sweet scent of orange and sugar. “You can punch me if you want.”

Theo frowns. “What?”

“I punched you, it’s fair” Liam shrugs, biting the last piece of his ice pop. “You can punch me and I’m not gonna do anything. As long as you punch me _once_ of course, otherwise I’m gonna kick your ass _so badly_ you’ll-”

“Why are you threatening me right now?” Theo looks confused and Liam suddenly feels the same way. Why is he threatening him again?

“Sorry. So, do you need to punch me back or not?”

A slightly annoyed scent suddenly tickles Liam’s nostrils.

“Oh for fuck’s sake, _no,_ I need to kiss you!”

Holy shit. _“What?”_

“I’m not confused.” Theo says more calmly. What a weird and foreign concept it is, this calm. It probably has something to do with still having all those links between brain and lips or brain and fists. “ _I_ know the difference between wanting to punch someone or wanting to kiss someone” He continues, staring Liam right in the eyes. It doesn’t help with the whole calm concept. “And I don’t want to _punch_ you.” He would look even more serious without that ice pop half melted still on his nose.

“Oh” Liam  squeaks out. _Oh god_ what is that, is it his voice? “Okay.” It sounds like someone is slaughtering a duck inside his mouth.

But he just said _okay_ , didn’t he? Even with that ridiculous voice he suddenly owns? So they kiss now, that’s it.  Liam hopes the dying duck in his mouth is not going to mess with that.

He swallows and then he blinks.

Something’s wrong.

Why aren’t they kissing? Was _Liam_ supposed to do it? Is he still supposed to? Is he in time to do it? But Theo has that ice pop on his nose, what is Liam expected to do about that? Can you just take off ice pops from people’s noses without them telling you that you can first? Mason probably knows, because Mason always knows everything about social interactions and ice pops, but he can’t just text him to ask that, the moment will pass if he does, the moment is _now_! Liam has to act _now_!

 

 

 

They don’t kiss and Theo throws his ice pop in a dumpster.  

Liam feels stupid about that.

About the kiss part, not the dumpster part, he’s glad that hot pillow is actually a good and well-mannered citizen when he’s not licking things indecently.

 

 

***

 

“You can never tell Mason I punched you.”

Theo turns on the engine of his truck and glances at him.

“Who’s Mason?”

“My best friend.” Liam says obvious. _Who’s Mason_ , this guy really doesn’t know anything, does he.

Theo arches his eyebrows. “Are we going to his house right now?”  
“What? No, of course not.”  Liam will never go to Mason’s house at four in the morning again after what happened last time with the handcuffs and everything. _Never again_.

He’s still convinced no human body should be able to assume the position Corey was in that night, no matter what they said.

“So you’re saying that we’ll have a second date and that you will introduce me to your best friend then.” Theo smirks, eyes fixed on the road. 

Liam blinks. “I didn’t say that.”                              

“Well, you thought that obviously, or why would you care to instruct me about what not to say in front of your best friend I’ll never know anyway?” Oh god, he’s such a little know it all, all logical and stuff.  Liam hates that kind of people. They think consistence and sense is everything in life.

“You could very well bump into him at the supermarket or something!” He snorts, while Theo starts slowing the car. They’re almost there. “Stop projecting, you’re the one who’s thinking about second dates and introducing friends and stuff like that.”

Theo nods immediately, stopping the car. “I am.”

 “Yes. That’s what I said.” Liam’s house is actually a neighbored away, but Theo seems okay with it, because he opens the truck’s door. Liam gets out of the car as well.

“Are you okay with it?” Theo asks casually, starting walking slowly next to him. “Me thinking about that?”

Liam shrugs. “I’m okay with you thinking whatever you want. It’s not like it affects me in any way.”  

Theo sighs slightly, but Liam can still hear him.

“Yeah, I’m okay with that.” He adds quickly, clearing his voice. “I won’t punch you again if we go to other dates. I promise. Ever again.”

Theo smirks, eyeing him amused. “What if I punch you first?”

Liam doesn’t hesitate. “Then I’m gonna punch you _so_ hard you’ll fall on that hot ass of your-”

“What if I kiss you first.”

Liam blinks, unsure of what his perfect supernatural ears just heard. “What?”

“What if” Theo repeats slowly, articulating every word. “I kiss you.”

Liam swallows, raising his chin a little. “Well, I guess you’ll just have to find out.”

He’s so happy the agonizing duck is not in his mouth anymore. Maybe it finally died.

Theo takes a step closer, cautious. Then he brings his right hand on the back of Liam’s neck and he looks in his eyes. His fingers are warm on Liam’s skin and he still looks a little wary.

“ _I swear_ _to God_ , if you punch me again I’ll-”

Liam kisses whatever hot pillow would do in that case right back in his mouth, pressing firmly his lips on it and putting his tongue to a better use. He’s soft and warm and he still tastes like orange. Liam loves it.  

“Let’s be honest, you would probably just whine like a baby again.” He grins against his lips as soon as they part. Theo’s lips immediately wrinkle in an indignant grimace as he’s about to reply, but Liam just press a quick soft kiss on them, and then another, and then another. He could do this all night. Theo smells so good now. His chemosignals are again a  little overwhelming and Liam almost feels his head spinning, but they’re not the bad type of overwhelming anymore. Nobody is feeling shamed or uncomfortable now. Hot pillow is enjoying kissing him just as much as Liam is, and he doesn’t understand why, since he’s not as hot as him and he punched him and he didn’t dressed nice for him and he’s basically unpleasant and edgy most of the time, but Theo is still kissing him and Liam has no intention to dispute this.

It’s so weird that with all the places in the world, all the people, he has just been lucky enough to be here, now, at four in the morning, with _this_ particular hot pillow and not another one and he’s able to kiss him and be kissed back, just like that.  

 

 

***

 

Mrs Jenkins’s house appears in the distance and this is enough for the idyllic bubble Theo’s lips created around Liam to burst into several tiny pieces of reality, all crushing on the floor at his feet.

Mrs Jenkins means that home is super close now, which means that their date is almost over, which means that it’s the moment to panic. And Liam does, because he’s such a talent at panicking.

“What happens when the date is over?” He blurts out and there it lives again, the agonizing duck in his throat.  She was there the all time, hidden, spying on them as they were kissing and waiting for the right moment to make a reappearance. Liam hates ducks more than anything.

“What do you mean what happens?” How is hot pillow so genuinely calm? Does he do this every night? Does he already have another guy who slept on him to go on a date with tomorrow?

“We’re on a date. So are we, like, dating? Of course we are, since we’re on a date, that’s what we are doing right now. We’re dating.” Liam is gesticulating a little too much, like his arms are now a concrete representation of the wings of the duck that lives inside him. “But what happens when the date is over and we stop dating?”

Theo studies him in silence for awhile, uncertain. His lips are still so swollen and red. Liam tries not to stare too much. “Are you asking if there is gonna be a second date and then a third and so on?”

Liam shakes his head. “No, I’m asking what happens between the dates.”

“Oh so you’re basically taking the second date for granted.” Theo mocks him.

“I punched you and you’re still here” Liam raises his brows eloquently. “It’s too late to play hard to get, hot pillow.”

Theo smirks. “Touché.”

He still didn’t answered Liam’s question tough.

“So what happens when we’re not on a date?”

Theo thinks about it and then he shrugs. “We can go on more dates.”

“Other dates between the dates?”

“Yes, like, if we go on a date tomorrow night as well, for example, we can add an extra date tomorrow morning where I come pick you up and we go and have breakfast at the new pancake’s house.”

Liam frowns, suspicious. “Did you have this planned already?”

“Maybe.” Theo looks away and Liam really hopes his nose is so red as a long term consequence of the punch, because he’s not stable enough right now to deal with a blushing hot pillow.

“Not what I was asking, but we can do that too I guess” Liam looks away as well and it’s ridiculous because they were sucking each other faces off three minutes ago. “I mean, if you need pancakes so much then yes, we’ll just have to do the extra date.”

“Great.” Theo smiles happily and Liam dies a little.

“Still” He adds, stubborn.  
“ _Yes_ , we are dating.”

Liam was wrong, he didn’t die before, but _now_ he does. And _he knew_ Theo knew what he was talking about, the little shit.   

“Even when we are not in a date?” He asks, just to make sure he really got the point.

“Yes.”

“So if someone comes to me and asks me if I’m single, I can answer _I’m dating someone, even if he’s not here right now._ Correct?” The duck in his mouth seems to feel a little better. It still sounds like a duck of course, since it’s a duck, but more like a live, just lightly sick duck, and not one who’s being murdered.

“That sounds like a _he’s not here so he can’t see me having sex with you let’s do it_ , but if you’re ready to clarify the equivocation then yes, you can.”

Liam nods, because he can do that. He’s good at clarifying equivocations, he does it all the time.  
“And if someone compliments you hair” He continues carefully. “You’re going to say _no,_ _I’m dating someone_ as well, right?”

Theo sneers. “I’m probably going to say thanks.”

Liam blinks.

“Yes, _Liam,_ I’m going to tell everyone who hits on me that my hair are dating someone else.”

Liam shrugs, casual. “Okay, fine, you can do that if you feel this necessity, I won’t stop you.” Theo giggles as they slowly stop walking. Liam has never been so disappointed in seeing his home. “So, I’m here. We’re here. Should we-”

_“Not you again! Stay away!”_

It happens in a second.

First it’s just him and hot pillow and he’s totally going to give him a goodnight kiss in front of his door, like they always do in movies, and then it’s him and hot pillow and Nolan, who still reeks of vodka by the way, and now tequila too, and who basically launches himself, fist first, towards Theo’s nose. 

Being already punched by Liam seems to have improved Theo’s reflexes a lot, because he takes a quick step aside before Nolan’s inaccurate fist can even graze him and they both watch him fall on the alleyway, face buried in Liam’s mom flowerpots. The petunias were already mainly dead, since his mom is not so good at gardening as she thinks she is, so it’s not a big deal, at least for Liam.

Theo on the other hand reeks of indignation.

 _“Really?_ What’s up with everyone wanting to punch me tonight?”

Since Theo looks so shocked Liam decides to act like he is as well, because it’s probably a thing you should be, shocked or at least surprised, when your drunk friend tries to assault your date in front of your house in the middle of the night. Liam would _love_ to be surprised by that. He’s _so_ not.

“Nolan what the fuck, I told you to make a scene _hours_ ago, what kind of delayed reflexes are these?”

Nolan, apparently unable to stand up, tries to mumbles something, which results in him chewing some poor petunia’s petals. Liam glances around, looking for evidence of what exactly Nolan was doing in front of his house. A pic-nic, apparently, because why not. Corey and Mason wave at him, still sitting on a blanket on the grass under his living room window and what’s really worrying is the fact that Liam can’t see Brett with them. 

_“What the hell you think you’re doing, hot face?”_

Oh, there he is.

Liam doesn’t know what riles him up more, the fact that Brett just aggressively shoved Theo as if it was his fault that Nolan is not able to keep his face out of his mom’s flowerpots, the fact that he’s still face to face with him and he’s _growling_ at him, or the fact that he called him _hot_.

This time it wasn’t panic, it was premeditated and it feels so much better when his fist collides against Brett’s nose, provoking a satisfying _crack_. Then again, it always feels good when it’s Brett to be honest.

Brett punches back and before Liam knows they’re both rolling on the grass, hitting each other with fists, elbows, feet, heads and every other part of the human body that can be used to produce pain.   

Liam feels so calm and in peace with the world as he kicks the other werewolf’s ankle with all his strength and receives in return a violent nudge in the ribs that cut off his breath, because it’s always a good way to end a night getting to hit Brett repeatedly.

He stops only when he hears his best friend’s voice in the background, a few steps from him.

“Hi, I’m- _Nolan stop eating topsoil._ Hi again, I’m Mason. So, do you think you could ever be interested in a threesome?”

“ _Mason!_ ” Liam jumps to his feet. “Get away from him, everybody just go! What are you even doing-”

“That’s what I was about to ask as well.”

Liam freezes.

Mason and Corey are so quick that they literally disappear, as if they suddenly became invisible.

Brett pulls Nolan’s lifeless body on his shoulder and runs like the coward he is, leaving only Liam, his mother and a devastate flowerpot.

He’s so concerned about his mother noticing the sad ending of her petunias that he doesn’t catch up right away on the fact that she’s looking straight at Theo and when he does he gasps, panicked.

“Mom” he squeaks and the duck has never been in so much pain as now. He points at Theo, who’s standing still next to him. “This is hot-” He stops abruptly as he realizes his mistake. Thank god he stopped in time before saying _pillow_ , he could have never survive the embarrassment of introducing Theo as hot pillow to his mom.

“Yeah, he’s very cute” She agrees and Liam widens his eyes, realizing that this is even worse. He should have said _pillow_. “Still, I hope you know his name at least.”

“Pillow” The duck cries out as Liam opens his lips to say _Theo_. Oh god she’s gonna think is on drugs now.

“I’m Theo.” Liam is still gasping when Theo smiles, holding out his hand like he just came to pick up Liam at a decent hour and he wasn’t just thirty seconds ago talking about threesomes while Liam rolled on the grass. “Nice to meet you, Mrs...”

“Oh, just call me Jenna, since my son likes you so much he thinks you should be introduced just as _hot_.”

Theo chuckles, genuinely amused, and Liam stares in horror as he bonds with his mom over how hopeless _he_ is.

“I’m very sorry for this, Jenna” He continues in a mature tone he didn’t use all night, a hand on his heart and a very conceivable contrite look on his eyes. _He’s quite the actor_. “It’s all your son’s fault, believe me, I usually go to bed at eleven o’ clock and I wake up early in the morning to clean the house and do laundry before heading for work. I’m very responsible when I don’t accompany myself with bad influences.”

Liam frowns, incredulous. Did Theo just implied to _his mom_ that _he_ ’s the bad company?  

“Oh I know it’s my son’s fault, trust me, I know” Liam is still too shocked by Theo’s betrayal to protest when his mom throws him a resigned glance. “Which is why I want you in bed in two minutes, we’ll talk more about curfew tomorrow.” Then her faces goes suddenly cold and murderous and Liam shits himself internally. “ _And I want new petunias, Liam.”_

Liam is going to find Nolan and make him spit all those flowers one by one.

“Theo, it was a pleasure” She adds incredibly more friendly before closing the door behind her.

 Theo reeks of satisfaction now. Liam glares at him.

“Why did you just throw me under the bus?” He chugs, bitter.

Theo shrugs, looking incredibly innocent. “Well, you’re her son, it’s more important that she likes _me_ rather than you, since she can’t really ban you from her house or life anyway.”

“It’s important that she likes you?” Liam repeats confused. Because confused is better than hopeful. 

“Well” Theo absently scratches his nose, partly covering the way it went all red again. “If we are going to do this and date _all the time_ , even when we are not in a date or together, like we said earlier, than yes, I’d say it’s important that your mom likes me.”

“Wait, are you guys boyfriends already?”

 _What the hell_ \- “Mason I told you to get the fuck out of here!”

“Yeah, yeah, calm down mate, we came back for the alcoholic sandwiches.”

Liam doesn’t even want to know. He just waits until Mason and Corey’s steps fade away in the distance and then he suddenly realizes it.

“Oh” He puffs, widening his eyes. “Right.”           

Theo frowns. “What?”

“He’s right.” Liam explains, still a little taken aback by it. How did he missed that? “That’s the name, when you date all the time. Boyfriends. Are you my boyfriend, hot pillow?”

Theo gasps, clearly surprised. Liam would panic now, if it wasn’t for the distinct pleased scent tickling his nose.

“Well, rationally I’d say it’s a little too soon for that” Theo considers. “But actually I’m all about you stopping calling me hot pillow in favor of hot boyfriend.”

Liam smiles. “Not gonna happen, _pillow_.”

Theo looks so offended by that. “Did you just drop the hot part as soon as I agreed to be your boyfriend?”

Liam holds a smile. As if he could ever drop the hot part while his boyfriend looks like this.

 _His boyfriend._ God, it sounds so good.

“Now give me a goodnight kiss and go to sleep, we’ll have pancakes in a few hours.” Theo says as the first rays of sunshine colors lighter reflexes in his hair.

Liam sighs. “I think I’m grounded.”

“Then go to sleep really fast, so she won’t be able to tell you that” Theo whispers conspiratorially. “You are not grounded until they say it explicitly to your face.”

“God I love you already” Liam breaths out without thinking. And then he realizes what he just said and the panic kicks in. _Oh god_. He can’t even blame the duck this time, because that was his own voice. “As a friend, I love you as a friend!” He quickly adds, trying to make it better and immediately making it worse.

Theo raises his brows, skeptical, lips pressed to hide a smirk. “Did you just friendzoned me on our first date?”

“Shit, no!” Liam hurries. This is so stupid. Why did he have to say that? It’s literally their first date, of course he doesn’t _loves loves_ him, he just crushed on him, that’s more correct, exactly, it’s a _crush._ Liam has a crush on his boyfriend, which totally makes sense, but how do you say it? You can’t say _I crush you_ to someone, right? Unless it’s a threat? Liam hates being confused.

“I mean...” He mutters, trying to find the words, and then deciding that the words can go to hell. Liam hates words more than anything else and so he closes his hands on Theo’s collar and he pulls him against his lips, kissing all the cringe and accidental friendzone out of him. “This, I mean _this_.” He breaths on his red, full lips, hands resting on his shoulders.

Theo smiles, pressing a soft kiss on Liam’s lower lip and licking it slightly. “I like this.”

Liam likes it as well, so he gives him another kiss, enthusiastic, deeper this time. He’s starting to get lost in it and he needs to force himself to part from his now wet lips. It’s late and he’s not the least bit tired, but it’s just a few hours, a few hours and they’ll have pancakes and kisses again.  

Liam smiles and brushes Theo’s hand. “Goodnight, hot pillow.”

Theo returns the smile and Liam can’t remember a single thing he hates in the world.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

“ _As a friend,_ really? So embarrassing.”

Except Brett, Liam hates Brett more than anything.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this was the last part, I hope you guys liked it. Maybe one day I’ll come back to this and do a sequel because I had a lot of fun writing it, let me know what you think please!


	5. Chapter 5

 

_One month later._

 

 

“I still don’t get why you’re so obsessed with this old zoo.”

Liam spent hours looking for a nice basket big enough for all the stuff he cooked, he bought a checkered tablecloth like the ones they always use in movies with its matching red napkins and he made sure the moon was full enough to allow them to eat and look in each other’s eyes in the moonlight without having to use their phones lights, but also not full enough to let his wolf take over and eat his boyfriend, hell, he even brought a nice perfumed candle that’s making his supernatural nose suffer but which is probably enjoyable for humans, and yet Theo is managing to ruin the atmosphere.

First it was the ants, _we can’t put food on the ground or they will steal it_ , like what kind of giant super strong ants has Theo met in his life honestly, then the spot, _that’s too close to the edge, you’ll fall, no, not there, it looks knobby, why didn’t we bring chairs again?_ , then it was the weather, _it’s so cold, you’re supposed to do this at midday you know,_ and now it’s the location. Liam feels a little like throwing him from the cliff, but he also feels like going back home and make love with him, so he just shrugs.

“Why, don’t you like it? It’s where we had our first date. It’s nice.”

Theo moves his pretty blue eyes to look around them, stopping on the parapet a few meters from them. “Yeah, you punched me in the face right there, so nice.”

That was stupid, now Liam knows it. He can’t even remember what was so difficult about just kissing Theo like he wanted instead of punching him. He’s being doing that for a month now, kissing him, and it’s not difficult at all. So much better than punching.

“Well, we could have gone where we first kissed, but Mrs Jenkins would have called the police if we had a picnic right in front of her house.” Liam snorts, glaring at a little ant silently making her way on their cloth. “I bet she’d love sending me to jail.”

Liam can’t wait for Halloween to have an excuse to wrap her house in paper towel again. He’ll probably do her a favor anyway, she clearly loves to overreact.

“You don’t go to jail for having a picnic” Theo points out and then his lips twitch in the way they always do when he’s about to say something mean and he feels happy about it. “Even with your terrible cooking.”

Liam took cooking classes last year, because Mason said it was the perfect place to meet guys and he needed a wingman. It’s not Liam’s fault that he met Corey at the post office and started dating him before they could get into the third lesson. Liam knows how to peel an apple in less than twenty seconds now tough.  

“She’d put her sewing needles in our food or something. So either we die chocking in blood or she frame us for stealing them and we go to jail.”

Theo chuckles and he’s still not bragging about how he was right, so he clearly hasn’t noticed the little ant climbing on their basket. Liam tries to discreetly blow it away but Theo blows back, apparently thinking they’re playing some kind of game because he clearly had a weird childhood, so Liam blows again holding his gaze and Theo does it too and he’s smiling, so Liam smiles as well.

“You’re such a weirdo” Theo whispers before pressing a soft kiss on his lips, as if he wasn’t the one mistaking Liam’s silent battle against ants for a mating ritual. 

 

**

 

“At least it’s not a full moon.” Liam says after a while, glancing casually at the bright moon above their heads like he just noticed it and he doesn’t regularly checks the lunar calendar more often than his class schedule. He’s even able to wait for two long seconds after he said it before bringing his eyes on Theo’s face, scanning it almost hysterically for a sign of some sort. “It means we’re not going to be eaten alive by werewolves.”

Nothing. No wincing, no chemosignals, no Theo giving a fuck.

He doesn’t even look at him, he just keeps staring at his sandwich, slightly separating the two slices of bread to inspect the interior more easily, as if Liam didn’t already told him what he put and most important what he _didn’t_ put inside it. That’s some disrespectful shit right there, you accidentally poison someone one time, just _one time_ , and your word on sandwiches is suddenly unreliable. Who’s allergic to peanut butter anyway? What a loser.

“Though, it’d be cool, wouldn’t it.” Liam adds very casually, still keeping track of every millimeter of Theo’s face. He’s going to agree with him now, come on. Werewolves are cool, he can’t deny that. And that’s all Liam wants to hear for now, because he’s so patient and mature and _cool_ is enough. He doesn’t need a _yeah, I always dreamed about dating a werewolf_. Just a little acknowledgment of werewolves’ coolness, that’s it.

“Being eaten alive? Yeah, _so_ cool.”

That’s not what Liam wanted to hear, but at least Theo’s sarcastic words are all muffled because he finally bit his sandwich, which is something. He still didn’t show any sign of excitement for werewolves as expected by his incredibly subtle plan, but he trusts Liam not to poison him again. That’s something right there.

“Not _that_ , just, you know, werewolves.” Liam says clearing his voice and looking at his nails. It’s so difficult to sound uninterested in a topic when you’re also bringing it up for the second time in thirty second because you’re actually very interested in the topic, being you the topic itself. “Seeing a real werewolf, I mean, if they existed of course, that would be cool.”

Theo’s shoulders line hardens imperceptibly.

“I don’t like werewolves” He says and Liam can distinctly hear his heart missing a beat. He’s lying. But he also seems deadly serious about it. Almost...angry.  
Liam is so confused.

“Yeah, I mean, they always make them _so bad_ in movies, I agree” He tries again, his voice light like this means nothing to him. Like he never spent hours lying awake in bed thinking about the possibilities of Theo being perfectly okay with his little furry secret, about how wonderful it would be to just tell him and getting an excited reaction in return. “But forget the movies, just the concept itself of a man turn-”

“I hate werewolves.” Theo repeats, firm, and Liam takes the hint and shuts up.

Of course Theo hates werewolves because why wouldn’t he, why would things go just well for one damn time in Liam’s life when they can go in the worst possible way. It wasn’t enough to have an allergic to peanut butter boyfriend who forces you to not eat it as well because of solidarity, no. Liam’s boyfriend also hates _him_.

“Okay.” Liam shrugs trying to keep his face blank, like he didn’t just received a devastating information and secretly wants to die. “I guess we won’t watch  _an American werewolf in London_ then. You want some cake?”

Theo eyes the fruit cake Liam pulls out from the basket while silently hoping the ant is not now inside it.

“Cake too? You made it?” Theo actually looks impressed for the first time in all evening and he doesn’t really need to know that Liam’s mother made it. He helped her anyway, by asking her to make it. It was an essential part for the existence of the cake, because Jenna wouldn’t have made it otherwise. So yeah, Liam made it _possible_ , which can be shortened in Liam made it. But then Theo frowns and Liam’s heart misses a beat. He saw the ant, that’s it. The ant is on the cake trying to steal it and he saw it and he’ll never shut up again.

“Wait.” Theo looks at him and Liam can see he’s thinking. He doesn’t like when he does that.   

“What.” He asks trying to look innocent. He’s actually innocent to be fair, but he doesn’t feel like it. Theo is about to accuse him of something and Liam is going to be guilty, he can feel it in the air.

“Is today the exact same date?”

Liam blinks. He’s so confused he doesn’t even know if he’s guilty or not now. “What?”

The corner of Theo’s mouth curls up a little. “That’s where we had our first date.”

Liam shrugs. “Yeah, I just said that.”

Now Theo is openly smirking. “It’s been precisely a month, isn’t it.”

Liam swallows. Guilty, he’s _so_ guilty. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

That seems the confirmation Theo needed because his eyes instantly fill with amusement and his mouth opens wide. “Oh my god, we’re celebrating our first _monthversary_ , that’s why you brought me here.” He laughs, staring at Liam like his head has been suddenly replaced by hundreds of ants. “I can’t believe it.”

“That’s not what we’re doing.”

“You’re so extra.”

“It’s not what we’re doing.” Liam insists strongly. “I didn’t even know it was a month today.”

Theo keeps chuckling like Liam hasn’t even talked. “ _So_ romantic, Liam.”

“Shut up!” Liam shoves him, feeling his cheeks burning up, but Theo immediately leans forward again and kisses him.

“Did you brought me a present too?” He grins as they part, looking all smug like he hasn’t just put half of his left hand on the cake.

“I’m your present, asshole.” Liam mutters, hitting him on the arm.  

Theo grabs his fist, holding it in his hand. “Well, let me wrap it open then.” He smiles and Liam feels his palms pressing against the cold grass outside the cloth as Theo kisses him again pushing him slightly back, his hands grabbing the collar of his jacket.

Liam groans as they deepen their kiss and he spreads his legs indulging the pressure of Theo’s knee, gripping his soft hair. And it doesn’t matter if he has to focus to hold back his claws and his eyes are probably flashing gold under his eyelids, or if the ants are feasting on his cake. It doesn’t matter if the moon in the sky above them is going to be full in just a few days and he’ll have to make excuses, nothing really matters now beside Theo’s heavy breath and his warm tongue inside Liam’s mouth.

 

And then reality comes back with a loud bang and a sudden burning pain on the back of his shoulder. He’s been shot, Liam realizes astonished, just as he hears the second gunshot.  

 

 

 

 


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize in advance for the lack of fun in this chapter, but I wasn’t in a happy mood and Liam wasn’t as well, with hunters crashing his monthversary by shooting at him (which, like, rude) and everything, so I hope it’s okay anyway.  
> As always, huge thanks to all the pretty pillows of love that commented!

 

 

Liam doesn’t believe in perfect days, it doesn’t matter how special the date is or the effort you put in making sure everything goes the best way possible, it just doesn’t happen in real life. It can start go wrong right away, your alarm doesn’t activate and you wake up late and you can’t have your nice breakfast which is also the only good reason to wake up in the morning to begin with and then you lose the bus and it starts raining and on and on till midnight, in a remarkable attempt of the universe to remind you that while perfect days are not an option, perfectly disastrous ones are totally a thing. Other times it starts great, so you can actually delude yourself you’re about to live the perfect day, and then when you less expect it your intestines wince and you’re caught by an attack of explosive diarrhea in middle of class or when you’re just about to have your first kiss – _Liam doesn’t regret that, Hayden was such a better first kiss than that superficial Emma anyway, leaving him for something so out of his control, ridiculous._ But most of the time it’s just a precarious balance between great and bad things and all the shades in between and if something bad enough happen to you, you can at least hope the rest of the day will be somewhat nice, except if the bad thing is the explosive diarrhea because that can last days. 

Point being, kissing Theo alone has a dangerous capability of elevate every single day incredibly close to the perfect line and since that’s not an option, Liam had expected the ants and the _I hate what you are_ thing. Not those exactly, but he expected something to go wrong, because that’s just how life works. His life anyway, maybe some people experience perfect days as well, he wouldn’t know that.

Anyway, he has been naive.

He thought that his boyfriend hating him without even knowing it was enough and that he could have Theo’s pretty lips on his neck and his hands all over his body without further concerns now.

Someone just shoot him. Message received universe, thank you very much.

Actually, someone is _still_ shooting at him.

“What the fuck, are they _shooting_ at us?”At _them_ , Liam realizes as Theo parts from him whit his eyes wide open from shook and disbelief. They’re shooting at them and Theo is human.

First, it comes the fear, as he stands ignoring the pain in his shoulder and drags Theo up with him, covering him with his body. He can feel the bullet burning in his flesh, he can smell the acrid smell of blood and wolfsbane and he knows he has to get it out as soon as he can or it will poison him, but Liam will heal. He’s a werewolf and he’s been shot before and he will heal. All it takes for Theo is one bullet and...Liam doesn’t even want to think about that as he shoves him towards the tunnels, trying to shield him from bullets he’s not even sure which direction they’re coming from. His nostrils are flooded with fear and he can’t discern his own from Theo’s.

“Stay down” He hears himself exhale as he pushes his boyfriend against a wall covered by graffiti. They have ran far enough into the tunnels and the gunshots have been replaced by the only sound of their heavy breaths.

“You too!”  Theo immediately grabs him by the sleeve of his jacket and roughly pulls him down as well, right next to him on the cold stone floor. Liam lets him and his eyes run to scour every opening around them, his ears tense to capture every slightest noise, but there’s no one there beside them. They lost them. It’s safe here.

And then comes the anger.

Liam knows what they are. He doesn’t know _who_ they are exactly, but he knows what. They found him before. They shot him before, even if with arrows and not bullets. They circled him with a weird dust he later discovered being called mountain ash, they trapped him with that and said things he didn’t understand. He had been a werewolf for two weeks and he didn’t understand why those people he never saw before in his life hated him so much. He was so confuse and scared and then he wasn’t anymore, he was just angry. When Satomi, Brett’s alpha, found him, Liam had already hurt himself by repeatedly dashing against the invisible barrier trying to get to them. He was still doing it and he’s not sure if he knew the difference between the men who were trying to kill him and Satomi and Brett, who were there to save him. He still doesn’t know if Satomi was right to let him in his trap for a little longer than needed. She probably was.

They’re called hunters, she explained to him and Brett, and hunting is exactly what they do, for a living and for fun and for dedication. It’s just that it’s _them_ they’re hunting and not animals. Not that they see a difference, Liam learned.

That time Liam didn’t see it as well, as he kept launching himself against a barrier that kept hurting him, blinded by an uncontrollable instinct to fight back.

Right now all he can see is red, and he’s not the only one.

“Liam is that _blood?!”_ Theo whispers and his panic suddenly fills the air, as his eyes fix on his jacket. He tries to get closer and turn Liam around so he can have a clear view of his shoulder but Liam leans back shaking his head, struggling to form words on his tongue.

“No, fine, we’re fine, I am-” Liam can’t think. He tries to clear his mind and focus on Theo’s face, but the only thing that emerges from the fog of his thoughts is the fact that they were shooting at them both. Theo is human and they must have known it and they were _still_ shooting. “Ketchup, it’s...just stay here.”

“Where the fuck you think you’re going?” Liam finds out he stood up just when Theo quickly grabs him and drags him back to the ground, a concerned look searching his face. Liam glances back with a spark of despair in his eyes: for the last month he has been feeling like wanting nothing else than being near Theo all the time, but now every single part of his body is screaming to get away from him. Theo’s hands rest firmly on his cheeks, forcing him to meet his eyes. “Hey, calm down sunshine, I think they’re gone, it’s okay, just breath.”

They’re not gone, Liam can hear their distant footsteps. He’ll feel guilty about it later, but right now he’s not able to pretend a part of him is not relieved that they’re still there. It’s stupid and selfish, but he _wants_ them to be there.

“Call Mason, tell him to warn Brett” He says resolute, ignoring the confuse look on Theo’s face.

“What-”

“Just wait here, I’ve got this.”

He knows it’s the smart thing to do, getting away from him, it’s rationally the best idea, since the hunters won’t target Theo if Liam is not next to him. He also knows the reason why he physically needs to get away from him right now is far less noble and logical and has a lot less to do with Theo’s safety and a lot more with his barely suppressed anger, with the fangs stinging his gums and the claws tickling against his fingertips. He’d like to think that it’s mainly to protect his boyfriend that he’s running towards the footsteps after ignoring his confused protests, but it’s not, it’s just his need to let go the anger that has already rubbed out fear and pain.

He growls as the fangs finally rip his gums and everything goes black, until Liam can’t tell the taste of his own blood in his mouth from the smell of the hunter’s one soaking his knuckles as he keeps  hitting him again and again.

His claws are deep buried in his palms but he doesn’t feel a thing.

The man under him stopped struggling for awhile now and his rifle lays forgot on the ground next to the other unconscious hunter, but Liam doesn’t stop, not when he hears the crack of bones against his fists and not when the body goes completely limp under him. _They shot them both._ _They could have hit hot pillow._

It’s weird how distinctly he hears Theo’s footsteps when he didn’t heard a thing till that moment, not his own growls or the scream of the hunters.

That’s when he stops and his bloody hands tremble under his eyes.

 _Heartbeats_ , he thinks, his mind slow and unfocused. _Count the heartbeats._  

There’s his own, strangely calm, and other two, _alive_ , and another one beating like crazy. Liam is still watching his shaking hands and when he fails to retract his claws he just closes them again, giving his back to the end of the tunnel where the hurried footsteps are coming from. _Fangs too_ , he reminds himself taking a deep breath.

“Liam!” Theo calls him just as Liam feels his claws changing back to basic human nails. _Fangs too, come on_ , _before he sees them._ “Liam, where-” The words die on his tongue and Liam doesn’t need to turn around to know that Theo is there now or what he’s looking at. “What...how did you do that?”

“Took them by surprise” He says, tensing as he hears Theo stepping closer behind him. His fangs are stuck in his mouth and there’s no sun, moon or truth that can move them. “Did you call Brett?”   

“No, I didn’t called _Brett,_ I called the police.”

“Fuck, I told you, _fuck-”_ Liam pants, restless. Brett needs to know right now. They knew Liam was a werewolf, they probably know about him and his sister too. He needs to warn him before they find him, he needs to make sure he’s okay. He needs to call Argent so he can deal with the hunters and the sheriff as he always does. He needs to take the bullet out of his shoulder before the wolfsbane affects him. He needs to be alone. “Listen, just go, I’ll wait for the police.”

 “What are you talking about? Why should I...Liam, just turn around for god’s sake!”

It’s not like Liam actually expected Theo to listen to him, he just doesn’t know what else to do, except keeping his futile attempts to force back his stupid fangs.

 “Theo, please...”

“Are you okay? What are you doing?” Theo eventually grabs his shoulder and force him to turn around, just as Liam’s heart starts racing and his fangs finally disappear. Maybe the glowing gold of his eyes is gone as well, maybe not. Liam can’t risk it and Theo reeks of confusion and distress as Liam keeps his eyes shut even while facing him. “Liam? Look at me, what’s wrong?”

“Can’t you just listen for once?!” That’s it, that’s the moment. Just one month before Liam managed to screw everything up, only because after years he still can’t control his wolf’s accessories under pressure. But what really makes him mad is the fact that Brett could be dying right now and he’s there thinking about his relationship. “I’ll wait for the police, just leave me alone!”

“Liam-”

Theo’s voice sounds so wrong. He never heard him like that, so worried and almost begging. 

Liam hates himself.

“I said _go!”_ He shouts angrily, shoving his shoulders. “Get the fuck out of here!”

This time, Theo listens.

***

 

 

Liam waits, his phone pressed a little too hard against his ear and his heart hammering in his throat. _Just answer, please. Answer, answer, answer._

“Hey, Dumbar.”

Liam has never been so happy to hear that stupid nickname.

“Brett!” He breaths relieved. “Where are you?”

There’s a moment of silence where Liam can hear loud music in the background and then Brett’s voice comes again, now more serious and a little alert. “Sinema, why?”

“Hunters” Liam throws a glance at the two men still laying unconscious at his feet and his claws instantly threatens to come out again. He presses the tips on his palms. “They just shot me with wolfsbane. I don’t know if it was just them or there are others. You need to warn your sister too.”

“She’s home.” Brett says nervous.

“Okay, go get her, we meet at Argent’s, he’ll know what to do.”

Brett sounds unsure. “You said they shot you, do you need help?”

“No, I’m fine” And he’s not even lying. Liam _remembers_  he’s been shot more than feeling it. He’s not sure if it’s a good or a bad sign. “I’ll call Argent, I’m close anyway, you go get your sister.” He’s just about to end the call, but then he pauses. “And Brett, leave Nolan there if he’s with you. They’re not like the others, they don’t care about casualties. Humans too.” 

 

***

 

 

_“Hunters in town, we’re all fine and Argent is dealing with them, but stay inside. I’ll call you later. STAY HOME.”_

 

Being this what he texted Mason, Liam is not even remotely surprised when his best friend bursts into Argent’s living room with Corey by his side.

“Liam, oh my god, what happened? What the fuck do you mean _hunters in town_ and then _stay home_? Say that to my face if you-oh god where is your shirt? Is that blood? Liam oh my god, are you dying, what’s-”

“He’s fine, he’s just being dramatic.” Liam opens his mouth to reply but it’s Brett’s bored voice the one that echoes in the room. Fuck him, honestly, Liam didn’t even wince when Argent was digging the bullet out of his shoulder, _dramatic his ass._

“You should have seen him as Argent was burning the wolfsbane out of his system, he legitimately _cried_ , it was gold.” Yeah, well, Liam did cry during that part, but so will Brett when he’ll break every single bone in his body starting by his ridiculously straight nose.

“You listen to me, you fucking-” Liam tries to get up from the table he’s sitting on, but Mason crosses the room in half a second like he’s suddenly the Flash and stops him.

“They hurt you with _wolfsbane_? Are you sure you’re okay? How do you know you’re not still dying on the inside? Did Argent call his veterinarian friend to tes-”

“Mase, I’m fine, look, the bullet hole is already healed.” Liam leans forward to show his friend the perfectly intact skin on the back of his shoulder, but the one who hurries to watch is Corey.

“Did they _shot_ you? With a real bullet? Can I see it?” Corey looks so much more intrigued than worried right now. Even Brett glances confusedly at him.

Liam shrugs, reaching for his shirt. “Nothing to see, I’m all healed now.”

“Oh. Okay.” Liam is sure it’s socially unacceptable to look so disappointed at _I’m all healed,_ but it’s not like Corey is known for being the socially acceptable one in the group. Nobody is known for that, actually. Not Mason or Brett, not Nolan who always talks aloud to himself in public and sure as hell not Liam.

Well, Theo is actually.

Liam darkens immediately, thinking about his boyfriend. Is he even his boyfriend now? Or did he hurried home blocking him on all social medias thinking he went crazy for good?

Like always, Mason seems to read his mind.

“By the way, Theo called me five times, he was freaking out.” He says and Liam’s stomach twitches unpleasantly: Theo is not the type who freaks out, he’s not Liam or Mason or Nolan or-literally everyone Liam knows, Theo is always cool and collected or at least busy _pretending_ to be, but now he's not, and Liam did that. “I told him we were together and that you’re okay and you’ll call him later. What happened, did he saw you?”

“No” Liam shakes his head, before a little mean voice in his head points out that he’s totally being optimistic by believing that. “I mean, no I don’t think so, I- _fuck_.”

He buries his face in his hands, letting out a frustrated sigh.

Mason’s palms are immediately on his shoulders. “Hey, it’s okay. You’ll figure something out. And if not, I mean...”

Liam doesn’t need him to finish. “I’m not telling him.” He decrees so firmly that Mason just nods, dropping it.

“Why is that again?” Brett, on the other hand, doesn’t. “He accepted you not having seen Star Wars, I’m sure he’ll be okay with you being a werewolf.”

Locking someone in a room with no food or water and only an endless pile of DVD is _not_ what Liam would call ‘accepting it’, but that’s not even the point. The point is the way Theo’s jaw always tenses and his eyes instantly become cold and fleeting every time Liam just as much mentions the supernatural, even in small hypothetical talks. It’s about how much his boyfriend smells about shame and guilt and _hurt_ every time Liam tries to share his nature with him.

Liam hates that smell on Theo. He hates being the one to cause it.

“He won’t.” Brett arches his brows skeptical, and Liam huffs. “Just leave me alone okay? I can’t tell him.”

“Then don’t.” Brett shrugs, suddenly indifferent. “But don’t come cry to us if he starts to suspect something and it becomes Nolan all over again.”

“Nolan is the only one who could think stabbing someone in the hand with a pencil is a good way to ask them if they’re hiding something.” Liam glances briefly at the scar on Corey’s totally human hand. He didn’t even guessed the right one. “Where’s Nolan by the way?”

“Sinema, you said-”

“Yes, good.”

Mason frowns at his phone. “He’s pretty mad: you left him on foot. We better go get him.”

“You do that.” Liam nods, before glancing around a little unsure. “I’ll go...I mean I should probably-”

Brett rolls his eyes. “Go get your pillow.” 

 

***

 

 

As he steps out of the door, Liam bumps into Mr. Argent.

He’s calm and relaxed as always, as if he just came back from groceries shopping and he didn’t just dealt with the cover-up of murderous supernatural hunters with the sheriff after digging out a bullet from a teen same age as his daughter.

Liam, whose permanent mode is ‘surviving the horror movie that’s life’, can just wish he was that cool.    

He remembers the first time they met. It was just minutes after Liam was bitten and he thought he was about to get murdered, because the grumpy alpha literally said _you’re a werewolf now_ and five seconds later he introduced Chris Argent to him as a werewolf hunter.

Luckily everybody in the room understood that it was only reasonable for Liam at that point to try and bite Mr. Argent’s head off and it wasn’t hold against him.

Mr. Argent just calmly kicked his ass and then specified he was there to help.

And he did, then and now.

“Are they...” Liam clears his throat, unable to finish the sentence.

The two hunters weren’t moving at all when Argent loaded them on his car. Liam can’t remember if he could even hear other heartbeats beside his.

“They’re alive.”

“Oh, okay.” This is the part where you feel relieved, Liam reminds himself. He doesn’t feel a thing. “Good.”

 

***

 

 

Theo opens the door right away.

He never does that, never. It’s a stupid pillow thing, Liam decided after the first few times, he thinks he needs to make him wait so he looks busy and wanted and Liam doesn’t take him for granted. It’s so stupid, honestly, because Liam is not the type of guy who takes things or pillows for granted, sometimes he just catches himself staring at the ceiling of his house pondering his incredible luck in even having an actual roof over his head and not being out under the rain or stuff like that, and every single time Theo approaches him he always feels so surprised, like, _wow, look, he’s walking towards me, is that my boyfriend? What a blessing._ It’s a little annoying, because most of the time he can literally sense Theo standing behind the closed door doing nothing except making him wait and he’d die to be able to mock him for that, but he can’t prove it without bringing his supernatural senses in the topic, so he just stands there feeling stupid everytime, trying to decide if headbutt his boyfriend or kiss the hell out of him. He usually goes with the latter, because Theo always looks pretty hot when he finally opens the door for him, smiling his way through the bullshits he comes up with to justify the wait.

He’s not smiling now, nor apologizing.   

Theo didn’t make him wait and Liam can smell the reason on him, even as the last traces of anxiety fade into the overwhelming scent of relief, so conflicting with the cold expression printed on his face.

Liam is already hugging him tightly when he catches all the other less pleasant chemosignals coming from Theo. “I’m sorry” He breathes against the soft fabric of his sweater, pressing his chin on his shoulder and holding him close.

Theo doesn’t pull away, but he doesn’t reciprocate neither, all his muscles stiff and tense in the hug.

“Theo, I’m sorry.” Liam repeats and his voice comes out a lot more whiny than he intended to. Theo doesn’t answer or move and lets Liam squeeze him for a bit more while also managing to ignore him, in that rather impressive way he has to be able to pretend people don’t exist even when they’re in his personal space, but eventually he puts his hands on Liam’s forearms and moves him away, gently but firm. 

“Sorry for what exactly” He asks inquisitive, his voice wary but also calm, as if he’s restraining himself to give in to anger just yet. Liam can still smell the annoyed notes under the mess of concern and confusion. “What the hell happened.”

Liam sighs, nervously running a hand through his hairs. He hates this part.

“I had an episode.” He says, clearing his throat as the words comes out hardly. It’s a good thing Theo can’t read chemosignals or he would be invested by shame and guilt right now. “I...my IED. They were shooting at us, at you, and I got mad.” Liam keeps his eyes on the floor, as the cold wind coming from the still open door behind his back tickles his neck and makes him shiver. “I couldn’t think clearly anymore. I just wanted to hurt them.” It’s not entirely a lie, it _did_ happened, except that’s not what he should focus on right now, it’s not what forced him away from his boyfriend. Liam feels a little sick by bringing his condition into this, when it wasn’t the point at all, like he’s exploiting it. “I don’t know how I did it, I don’t usually remember clearly after...after I-” Liam clears his voice again and forces himself to raise his eyes from the ground, because he suddenly feels a coward for not having the courage to at least look Theo in the eyes as he lies to him. “But I caught them by surprise I guess, because I know the tunnels so well, and so I disarmed them and...”

“And you started screaming at me like crazy to leave you alone.” Theo cuts him off, his voice empty of any emotion.

Liam swallows, fighting the urge to lower his eyes again. “Yes.”

Theo raises his brows, expectant.

“I’m sorry.” Liam sighs, feeling helpess. “I wasn’t lucid, that’s it.”

“That’s it.” Theo repeats, glacial, and then he turns away and starts walking.

“I didn’t want you to see me!” Liam blurts in panic and Theo stops, just a few steps away, still giving him his back. Liam breathes deeply, closing his eyes for a moment. He hates this so much. “To see me like that. I kept punching them. I almost...I could have killed them. I _wanted_ to. I didn’t want you near me like that.” _It’s not a lie, it’s not a lie._ Liam doesn’t feel any better.  

“But you wanted Mason?” Theo is back at facing him and Liam frowns confused, before remembering what Mason said earlier about being with him.

 _You got this, come on_ , he silently encourages himself as Theo’s glare promptly reminds him that he doesn’t got a damn thing. 

“Mason is my best friend since forever, Theo” He starts anyway, trying to sound reasonable. _Not a lie. Nothing of this is a lie._ “He saw me before, he knows how to handle me when I’m-look, I’m sorry, I was out of my mind and all I could think when I saw you was that I couldn’t risk to hurt you too. I would go crazy if I-”

“Who were they?” Theo cuts him off again, still not letting any emotions slip from his face. Liam can’t even concentrate enough to discern the explosion of mixed chemosignals he’s getting right now.

He shakes his head. “I don’t know.”

Theo stares at him. “You’re lying.”

“Theo-”

“You told me to call Brett instead of the police!” Theo finally bursts out, the anger now evident on both his face and voice. Liam feels weirdly relieved at that. “You know who-”

“Yes!” Liam raises his voice as well, exasperated at the situation and himself. Why did he tell him that? Why was he so stupid to... _because your friend was in danger and that’s more important than your relationship_ , a little voice reminds him. Liam sighs, Theo is still staring at him, waiting. “Yes, I know something. But it’s not important. It’s...it’s Brett. He did something to some people and now...I can’t tell you. It’s not my place to tell you. It has nothing to do with us.”

And that’s a proper lie, but it doesn’t matter, because it was already, all those half truths about his IED and all his _not technically a lie,_ it was all a big lie anyway. Might as well do it well.

“Nothing to do with us?” Theo lets out an incredulous laugh, his eyes as sharp as ever. “They _shot_ us!”

Liam returns his look, so much more irremovable than he actually feels. “The police will deal with it.”

“Yeah, where’s the police?” Theo replies immediately, defiant. “Why aren’t they interrogating us right now?” He shakes his head, a bitter laugh on his lips. “You’re lying _so_ much.”

“A little!” Liam admits a bit desperate, changing tactic again. “I’m lying a little! But I’m also telling you the truth, okay? It’s just...” Liam brings his hands to his hairs, helpless. He’s so bad at this. Is it even a bad thing he can’t lie properly to his boyfriend? “I can’t tell you everything, I’m sorry, but _please_ , believe me, it has nothing to do with you, and I’m like super tired, my head is exploding and I did infact planned our monthversary because I’m a cheesy romantic just like that and I counted the days and I wanted everything to be perfect and I made my mom bake the cake because I can’t cook for shit and you were right about the ants and I missed you so much in these two hours if it’s even possible to miss someone you just saw and I wouldn’t have said it is until tonight but... can we just go to bed, please?”

Liam catches his breath as Theo stares at him with a blank face, silently processing the waterfall of words Liam just threw up on him, or maybe just ignoring him again, one of the two. Then he turns around and slowly disappeared in his bedroom, leaving Liam there on the door unsure of what to do.

He _did_ go to bed like Liam proposed, so maybe it’s a good thing, but then again he didn’t comment on the _we_ part and he _did_ left Liam there on the door, so maybe it’s a disaster and Liam is single again and Theo didn’t even worry about telling him, but also, Liam never specified he wanted them to go to bed in the _same_ bed, so maybe he still has a boyfriend but he’s also supposed to go back home in his bed and that’s still a disaster because Liam doesn’t think he can survive sleeping so far away from Theo right now. The worst part is that it’s been minutes now and Theo still hasn’t called him, not even to throw him out, so he clearly expects Liam to know what he’s supposed to do, while Liam clearly doesn’t.

The door needs to be closed, that’s for sure. It’s cold outside and whether he stays or not Theo can’t sleep with the door of his apartment open, or someone will come inside and steal him. The door needs to be closed and Liam is the only one in the proximity, so he’s the one who has to do the job. He’s so close and the door is not heavy or anything, it seems so easy, but it’s also totally beyond his abilities because closing the door means making a choice: once the door get closed, he can be on one side of it or the other. Maybe Theo doesn’t care either way and Liam can do whatever he wants, maybe Theo is testing him and Liam’s choice will determine the future of their relationship status. 

Liam swallows and throws a nervous glance towards the bedroom: Theo left the door open. He didn’t slam it like Liam always does when he’s angry. He didn’t calmly closed it in a passive-aggressive invitation to get out. He just left it open, as to facilitate anyone who would like to enter after him in doing so. Anyone like Liam.

Maybe he wants him to follow him after all. Maybe it’s a trap. Maybe Liam should do something unpredictable like taking a step back and sleeping right there, half inside and half outside.

Maybe Liam should just stop thinking.

He silently closes the door.

 

 

Theo is already under the blankets, eyes closed and his back towards the door. He lays on his side perfectly still as Liam enters the room, not moving a muscle, but his heartbeat quickens imperceptibly.

Liam feels a little smile on his lips as he spots Athena sleeping next to Theo, a little humming orange ball at the foot of the bed.

He quietly takes his clothes off and reaches for one of Theo’s hoodie, zipping it and slipping into bed with just his boxers on. He moves slowly and carefully, as to not wake Theo up, even if he’s clearly not sleeping.

Liam lies next to him and glances at his back, before purposely  pulling the blanket a little too much on his side of the bed, almost leaving Theo uncovered. They slept together a few times and Theo always got ridiculously mad everytime Liam as much _touched_ the blanket, but now he doesn’t even flinch, let alone turn around or acknowledge his existence. Liam holds back a sigh and lies still staring at the ceiling.  

They stay like that, both awake and in complete silence, for several minutes, before Liam finally takes courage.

“Can I have my pillow?” He whispers at the ceiling.  

“It’s there.” Theo answers the wall.

Liam’s head is infact resting on a pillow right now, but they both know that’s not what he was asking for.

“I mean the hot one. Can I have my hot pillow?”

Theo stays quiet for awhile and Liam is about to resign himself to the fact that he’s not going to answer, but then he slowly turns around, lying on his back and shifting a little closer. Liam moves closer as well, resting his head on Theo’s shoulder and sliding an arm around his chest, feeling like actually breathing for the first time in hours. He closes his eyes and lowers his arm, gently stroking his hip till he reaches Theo’s hand and intertwines their fingers together. He squeezes softly and basks in the feeling of Theo squeezing back, even if just for a second.

It’s so stupid how just that small gesture could make Liam call this a perfect day again, even when they don’t exist, even when this was clearly not one of them.  

He lifts their fingers to his mouth and presses a little humid kiss on the back of Theo’s hand, feeling the tension leaving the muscles under him as Theo gradually relaxes in his hug and brings his other hand to softly play with Liam’s hair.

Liam eagerly leans in the touch and  slowly shifts his head from his shoulder to his chest, letting Theo’s heartbeat lulling him to sleep.

 

 

 

 


	7. Chapter 7

 

 

Liam wakes up two times.

The first one, the sky outside the window is still dark and Liam can barely guess Theo’s features kissed by the dim moonlight, but his body is warm between his arms and his breath is regular and calming under his cheek.

The second time, Liam struggles to keep his eyes open in the blinding sunlight that has flooded the room and the mattress under his arm next to him is cold and empty.

His heart sinks in his chest and every trace of sleep suddenly leaves him as he realizes that Theo is gone.

It’s stupid and embarrassing the way his heart starts to run and the fear floods him clouding his mind as it hadn’t done even when the hunters were shooting at them, but Theo is gone and Liam stumbles while jumping out of bed and staggers towards the door.

He has no idea where to start looking for Theo or what exactly he’s supposed to do now, calling Mason or Argent or Theo himself, or maybe just stop and make a list of all the possible reasons why Theo could be absent, like one, he didn’t close the door well and someone stole him during the night, two, the hunters are torturing him right now trying to extort him information that he doesn’t have since Liam is a lying little shit and didn’t tell him anything, three, he just went for a run, four, he went for a run and has been kidnapped by hunters while running because he can’t run for shit and he’s so slow. Five, he hates him.

Six, he’s in the kitchen making breakfast.

Well, that was dramatic.

“You’re here.” Liam breathes relieved, watching his boyfriend padding barefoot from the sink to the stoves, just his boxer and a white, messy t-shirt on. Theo barely glances at him, pouring the pancakes liquid in the pan.

“I live here” He says and that’s when Liam knows it. It’s not like yesterday, it’s not another one of those perfect looking days that suddenly turns to shit, this is a more honest day, one of those that start like shit right away and just stay that way until the end, all shitty and coherent. Liam can work with that.

He can’t actually, but he likes to know how and why his day will suck. In this case, because Theo is mad.

He didn’t just forget everything about last night like Liam secretly hoped he would have, he didn’t wake up in a  _good morning babe_  mood, he woke up in a  _I live here_  mood. He’s not glaring at Liam or anything and his voice is not full of hate. He’s not screaming and he’s not making banana pancakes, the ones that Liam hates, because why the hell would you put banana on pancakes when you can have blueberries pancakes anyway, that’s just sick. But no, there aren’t bananas in sight and Theo is putting so many blueberries on Liam’s pancakes, so much more than the ones he just poured on his own plate, and that’s when Liam knows it for sure: passive-aggressive pancakes. That’s what Theo is feeding him.

“Thank you” Liam babbles unsure as Theo shoves the plate in his hands with a bit more strength than necessary. “For making breakfast.”

“You’re welcome” Theo smiles and his voice sounds so sweet and gentle that as he leans in for a kiss Liam’s eyes widen with panic. Theo keeps his eyes open as well as he presses a quick kiss on Liam’s lips, applying for the second time more pressure than necessary, as if he’s trying to shove Liam away using only his mouth. Then he leans back and takes a seat at the table, all of this while his eyes keep dissociating themselves from the rest of his smiley face. Liam has never felt more disturbed watching his boyfriend before. He needs to do something, he needs to fight back or else he’ll just succumb under all the passive aggression. 

“These are a lot of blueberries” Liam observes loudly as he takes a seat as well, nodding at his plate. Theo keeps chewing, clearly uninterested. “Like, a lot.”

“Just leave them if you don’t want them.” 

“I could never. You gave them to me.” He can’t hope to be more passive aggressive than Theo in this life, so he’ll fight back by being actively unaggressive. “They’re beautiful. Just like your hair.”

Theo looks very unimpressed by that. “Does my hair look like blueberries to you?”

“Blueberries have nothing on your hair” Liam replies immediately, passionate, and then he puts his hand on Theo’s. “I love-” Liam is so busy being all dramatic and affectionate that he almost accidentally declares his love for Theo for the first time when he’s being in a mode, but luckily he manages to put his tongue in its place before the tragedy happens. “Your hair. I love your hair. Have you done something different to it? It looks great.”

It doesn’t. It looks soft and messy and absolutely adorable, but morning is one of the few moments in which his boyfriend’s hair doesn’t look great and perfect and styled like it always does. Theo spends too much time in front of the mirror to not know that.

“You know what else is great?  _Pancakes._ ” Liam has never heard anyone say  _pancakes_ with such coldness. Pancakes are supposed to be light and joy and a reason to wake up in the morning, it’s so sick that Theo is using them as a weapon against him. “And when you’ll feel like leaving my hand I’ll be able to eat them.”

This is the moment to accept the defeat and retreat his hand, Liam knows that. Still, he doesn’t move it.

“Or I can feed them to you” He says tentatively instead. They can’t fight if he just keeps hitting back with love, right? The look in Theo’s eyes tells him they can and they will, so Liam brings back his hand to his own plate, swallowing his pancakes as fast as he can without even chewing. Unresolved issues never tasted so sweet.

 

 

***

 

_Pick up, pick up, come one, pick-_

“Hello?”

“Mason, thank god, I need your help.”

Liam feels a little like he’s in a horror movie, hidden in the bathroom whispering in his phone, and if a part of him is perfectly aware that his life is not in danger right now, he still keeps throwing glances at the door expecting Theo to break trough it with an ax at any moment now. He’s probably being dramatic, but he’s not used to have a boyfriend fighting with him without openly fighting. Hell, he’s not even used to have a boyfriend actually.  

“Liam? What is it?”

“Come over please. I need help.”

“Shit, are the hunters again? They found you?”

“Worse.” Liam shakes his head, miserable. “Theo is being passive aggressive. He must be still mad because of yesterday, I think he knows I lied. Mase, listen, he made me pancakes, I don’t know what to do.”

There’s a long silence on the other side of the phone, because Mason is just the best friend ever and he’s coming up with a brilliant solution.

“You could...eat them?”

Liam grunts, impatient. “Oh my god, Mason,  _focus!_  I ate them already and it was a terrible idea because I almost told him 'I love you' in the process! But what now? Can you come here please? So we can see if he’s passive aggressive with everyone or specifically me?”

“I mean, sure, but aren’t you at his place? Are you going to tell him that you invited me over?”

“No, absolutely not! Just...just bring us tacos for lunch! Like a surprise, okay? I’ll try to survive until lunch, but hurry!” Liam immediately hangs up and turns his phone off so Mason is physically unable to say no and then he slowly reaches the door, hesitating. Maybe he can just take a nap in the bathtub instead. It’s comfortable when there’s water in it, so it can’t be that bad even when empty, right?

But what if Theo needs the bathroom and finds him sleeping there? Oh no, that would be tragic. He can’t fall asleep, Liam needs to stay alert.

He silently accosts his ear to the door, listening.

Theo’s not there. Well, he’s  _there_ , he can hear his heartbeat, but he’s in the living room, not hidden near the door ready to attack him with some fake smile and acid remark. It’s as safe as it can be.

Liam still doesn’t feel like opening the door yet.

That’s ridiculous. He’s a werewolf, he has nothing to be afraid of. It’s not like Theo can sassy him to death anyway.   

Liam takes a deep breath and opens the door like the fearless Gryffindor Pottermore told him he was. Theo is sitting on the armchair near the T.V. with his arm crossed and a dead look in the eyes as he stares at the screen. Liam can hear the prerecorded laughs of  _Friends_  but he’s not sure Theo can, because it doesn’t seem like he’s actually watching. He’s just staring, like he’s mad at  _Friends_  too. Still, he must at least smile at some point because you don’t just watch  _Friends_  without doing so, except he does: Liam stares at him staring at the screen for a ridiculous amount of time before taking a step closer, and then another one. When he reaches the couch a terrible dilemma faces his mind and Liam hesitates a little before continuing towards Theo’s armchair, sitting warily on the armrest next to him. They can’t fight if Liam keeps ignoring his hostile chemosignals.

They sit like that not moving a muscle for a while until the worst predictably happens: Phoebe’s monologue is suddenly cut off by the advertising and Liam swallows, because they can’t just keep staring at the screen without talking now that there’s not even anything to watch on it.

They absolutely can.

Liam glances at Theo who’s still stubbornly focused on the screen and sighs a little, before just going for it: if this is how he dies then be it.

He silently slides from the armchair and tucks himself next to Theo, leaning against his side and resting his chin on his shoulder, wrapping his arm around his neck. Theo tenses a little, his arms still crossed on his chest, and Liam is getting so tired and frustrated at his boyfriend not hugging him back, but his nose is still so close to the warm skin on Theo’s neck and his scent sooths him anyway, even with all the weird unusual chemosignals mixed to it.  

They are so going to fight at some point and Liam doesn’t need to read the chemosignals to know that, but it's so good to just feel Theo’s reassuring warmth and finally breathe a little as if everything was alright.

It lasts about ten seconds, then Theo wriggles from under him and gets up, leaving him on the empty armchair.

“It’s too hot, I’ll take a shower.”

He says it with a tone that makes it clear that it wasn’t too hot before Liam wrapped himself around him and he quickly disappears in the bathroom. Even when the sound of water vanishes twenty minutes later, he still doesn’t come out.

Liam wonders if Theo is sleeping in the tub. 

 

 

 

A couple of hours later, the doorbell finally rings.

“Hey Theo, what’s up? I brought you guys tacos for lunch.” Mason is smiling a little too widely for it to look natural and he’s holding a large Chipotle bag like a shield. Liam can’t believe he actually thinks Tacos will defend him from Theo: he never saw anyone eating them faster than him, he can get to Mason in a heartbeat if he wants to. 

“Thanks.” Theo actually accepts them, but his little smile is not reassuring at all. It’s like he has a lemon inside his mouth. “I would have starved otherwise. It’s not like I’ve been living by myself for years now and I’m perfectly capable of cooking myself lunch.” Liam takes a step back retreating in the living room as Theo crosses the hallway towards the kitchen, the bag tight in his hold and the sarcasm heavy in his voice.“Thank  _god_ for tacos.”

Mason, frozen at the door, throws a panicked glance at Liam and tries to leave, but before he can take a step Liam is holding onto his arm like his life depended on it. And maybe it does.

“Don’t you  _dare_  Mason, you’re here to help!”

“And what am I supposed to do?” Mason whispers back, unsuccessfully trying to free his wrist from Liam’s fingers. “Have you seen him? Who reacts like that to free tacos?  Look, just, I don’t know, this is something between you two, give him a blowjob or something!”

“Are you crazy, he’ll kill me if I touch him” Liam mutters between gritted teeth, because he doesn’t want to be the first person to die from a blowjob. Theo will shot poison straight into his throat and that will be it. “Come. Inside.”

Mason shouldn’t have enough strength to fight off a werewolf, it just doesn’t make sense, but he clings to the door and Liam almost wolfs out trying to drag him inside and they just stop fighting when Theo slams a plate on the table so hard it startles them both. They run to the kitchen –Mason’s arm still carefully trapped by Liam’s iron grip because he just proved he’s a traitor who can’t be trusted – to see what’s going on but turns out Theo is just laying the table very passionately. How the plates are still intact is beyond Liam, but they probably know too it’s better not to anger Theo more. 

Liam immediately runs to the cupboard to help by taking cutlery, but Mason, being the coward he is, doesn’t waste a second to stab his best friend in the back as soon as his arm is free.

“I’m sorry I came here without notice, maybe you guys wanted to be alone, so-”

“No, why would you think that.” Theo shrugs sitting and his voice is too polite for it to sound honest. Liam hesitantly sits next to him, nodding at Mason to do the same. He doesn’t. “You’re his best friend, you two have known each other your whole life, why would you spend a few seconds separated? That would be madness. Actually, do  _you_  want me to leave you guys alone? I can go upstairs and stop being the third wheel.”

Liam doesn’t know what’s happening anymore especially because Theo’s flat has just one floor, but before he can even decide if pointing that out or not Mason is shaking his head eagerly, retreating towards the door.

“No, no of course not, actually I wasn’t going to stay, Corey is waiting for me anyway. Good lunch, see you soon, bye!”

Two seconds later, Mason has ran out of the door and Liam wonders if he’ll ever see him again.

 

 

 

“Are you mad at Mason?”

It’s been a while since anyone talked, exactly since Mason left, and Theo stops wickedly stabbing his Tacos to glare at him. 

“No.” He growls like he was the werewolf in the room and Liam can’t help but frowning, because it seems he suddenly forgot the passive component in his passive aggressive behavior. 

“Wait, are you  _jealous_  of Mason?” Liam asks incredulous as the doubt comes to his mind. Theo scoffs, looking anywhere but his eyes.

“No.” He mutters and Liam doesn’t even listen to his heartbeat because what’s the point when he can’t acknowledge it anyway. He’s getting more and more frustrated with this  _I know you’re mad at me and you know I know but we’re not talking about it_  thing. It’s not that Liam is particularly great at talking, because he’s absolutely not in fact, but he’s even worse at  _not_  talking apparently.

“Okay, because you were kinda rude to him right now, so...”

“Well, I don’t remember inviting him here, so.” Theo retorts sharply.

Liam lets out an heavy sigh, putting down his Tacos. This won’t do, it’s barely midday and he’s already too tired for his own good. Nobody warned him being in a relationship was going to be so extenuating. “Theo, are we fine?”

Theo shrugs, slumping in his chair and looking down at his plate with a blank expression. “I’m fine, are you?”

“You know what I mean. Are  _we_ fine?” Liam insists impatient, tapping his nails on the table in an attempt to calm himself. Theo is the angry one, not him. Nobody needs him to get angry as well, that never helped Liam once in his life.

“Sure.” Theo keeps showing more interest to his Tacos than his supposed boyfriend and Liam inhales deeply, breathing slowly like his parents taught him. No need to get mad as well. Getting mad never helps, especially if he’s the one doing that, because he does it a little too well. Anger doesn’t help. Breathing on the other hand…

“Yeah? Then why don’t you kiss me?” Liam thrusts his chin upward in defiance because fuck breathing, if Theo wants to be mad at him he’ll just have to admit it out loud, Liam won’t stand for this silent pettiness. Fights are supposed to be quick and loud and intense, not this protracted bitter resentment.

“Why shouldn’t I?” Theo finally meets his eyes and that’s not how you want to be looked at by someone who’s about to kiss you, but before Liam can blink Theo’s chair scratches the floor as he stands up and then his hand is on Liam’s chest, clinging to his t-shirt, while his tongue forces his way between his lips like he’s hiding something in his mouth and Theo is determined to find it. Liam’s fingers close tightly on his boyfriend’s naked forearm as his head tilts back a little under Theo’s eagerness, but immediately he finds himself responding just as hungrily, fully keeping up with the aggressive making out this day suddenly gifted him with. It probably doesn’t look good from an external point of view and it feels a bit like Theo is trying to eat his face, not even in a sexy way, just in  _a I legit want to kill you but I can only use my mouth to do so_  kind of way, and for some reason Liam keeps finding it pretty hot, at least until it fucking burns.

“What the fuck Theo!” He groans as the taste and texture of blood fills his mouth, his lower lip stinging painfully where Theo suddenly sank his teeth. 

Theo moves away, shrugging half heartedly as he walks back to his chair. “You like bites.”

“Yes, when you nip, not when you try to rip my lip out!” Liam snaps back too outraged to even worry about his fast healing. His boyfriend was actually trying to eat him alive, that’s what they’re doing now. Great. 

Theo is still pouting silently at the other side of the table staring down at his crossed arms, but he also smells a little off now. When Liam brings a napkin to his lip staining it in red, Theo glances guiltily at it.  

“I didn’t mean to make you bleed, I’m sorry” He mutters and Liam takes a second to smell his shame, before throwing the napkin at him, still annoyed. 

Theo immediately collects it from the floor where it landed after hitting his nose and when he comes back after throwing it away he has an ice pop with him. He hands him to Liam without saying a word and Liam presses the frozen sweet against his lip even if it doesn’t hurt anymore.

They sit there in silence for a while until Liam takes a bite from the ice pop and then he instinctively offers it to Theo, just like they did at their first date, when Liam panicked and accidentally punched him.

Theo licks it and Liam feels the annoyance fade away, leaving him just sad. This, blood and uneasiness, is not how having a boyfriend should taste like. It’s not how  _they_ should smell like.  

“We’re not fine.” He sighs refusing the ice pop that Theo is handing back to him and playing nervously with his fingers. “You’re not like this when we’re fine because if you were we would make a terrible couple. And we’re not.”

Theo sighs, abandoning the ice pop inside the glass of water in front of him, which in another moment would cause Liam’s deepest horror because what the hell, that was a perfectly edible and almost whole ice pop, and then he runs a hand through his hair, suddenly looking just as tired as Liam. “No, we’re not.” He agrees quietly and it’s the first time since yesterday his voice doesn’t sound like a squeezed lemon.  

“What is it then?” Liam presses even if he’s not sure he’s ready to have this conversation. He kinda knows what it is already and it’s not like he can do anything about it.

“I can take a punch, Liam.” Theo finally looks him in the eyes and that’s not exactly what Liam expected him to say. “If Mason can handle you when you’re having an episode, so can I.” He insists firm and Liam feels a little relieved that he’s not focusing on the hunters anymore, and then he immediately feels a little guilty. “And even if you do end up hurting me, it’s not the end of the world, okay? Again, I can take a punch.”

“Let’s pretend that you can and you didn’t almost cried when I punched you on our first date...”

“I didn’t cr-“

“You still don’t have to!” Liam snaps and he’s not even lying, surprisingly. It might not have been the point last night, because it wasn’t, not at all, but even if Theo knew and he had nothing too hide, he still wouldn’t want him near him like that. “I don’t care if you can take it or not, you don’t have to.”

“But you trust Mason.” Theo replies cold and Liam gasps, taken aback.

“Wait, you think I don’t trust you?” Liam blinks confused because of all the legitimate reasons Theo could be mad at him right now, he goes and chooses the only one that doesn’t make sense. “It’s not you, okay, it’s  _me_ , I don’t trust myself around you when I’m having an episode, simple as that, it has nothing to do with trust. I just don’t want to hurt you.”

Theo snorts and the corner of his lips lifts into a fake little smile. “So moving. But you want to hurt Mason instead?” He asks cold, crossing his arms and standing up from his chair. “Yeah, no. It’s not you, it’s me you don’t trust. You think I’m so superficial that just seeing you like that will make me leav-”

“No, no, this is ridiculous, I do trust you.” Liam automatically mirrors Theo and stands up as well, his heart beating faster and faster in his chest. He’s not telling him the whole truth, okay, but it’s not about trust, Theo literally spelled it out for him, he hates werewolves, simple as that, what is Liam supposed to do? In a way, he’s actually trusting him already, specifically he’s trusting his word that he hates werewolves.

Theo doesn’t seem to agree. “You have a weird way of showing it.” It’s not like his voice isn’t always at least a little biting and it’s not like Liam doesn’t love it, but it sounds so cold now, like Theo started spitting ice cubes instead of words and that’s when Liam starts to get annoyed as well.

“Trust talking coming from you, that’s fun.” He mutters bitter and Theo immediately raises an eyebrow, questioning. “Well, it’s not like you trust me with anything.” Liam adds in explanation, because if a trial is what they’re doing, then they might as well do it well.   

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Theo asks defensive and Liam can smell honest confusion rolling off him. It makes sense, he guesses, because Theo probably did a wonderful job at keeping his secrets as far as humans standards are concerned. He probably didn’t plan on his boyfriend to have supernaturally enhanced senses though.

“What I said.” Liam says laconic tugging his hands in his pockets just to have something to do with them. And this time his voice is the one sounding like ice.

Theo frowns, tensing. “What is it that I don’t tell you?”

“I notice things, okay? More than you think. Even if  _I_  respect you and  _I_ don’t press you, because it’s fine if after a month of dating we still don’t tell each other everything.” But then again, Liam’s anger is more like fire and it makes his words shake and vibrate under it. “Still, I’m not going to take all this crap from you while also ignoring all the times  _you_  get weird and change subject.”

Theo snorts and his face doesn’t let anything slip, like he didn’t even hear him. His chemosignals tell a different story. “Me changing subjects sometimes has nothing to do with you going crazy and running towards armed people and then going even more crazy and screaming at me to leave you there all bloodi-”

“Yes it  _does!”_ There’s a voice in Liam’s head quietly but persistently informing him that he’s doing it again, that he’s screaming without actually wanting to and that he’s not supposed to do that, that all his bad moments somehow start with him shouting first, but the point is, the voice is right and Liam is totally screaming, which means he can’t even hear it that well. _“_ Because you want to know everything and you want me to open up with you and you act all offended because you think I trusted my best friend, who I have known _my whole life,_  more than you, when you’re the first one who doesn’t even think about trusting me enough to-”

_“I KILLED MY SISTER!”_

Liam blinks astonished, his lips still parted as the words die on his tongue.  

“What?” There’s barely any voice in his breath.  

“Here, that’s what you wanted to know?” Theo pants a little, his eyes glaring straight in Liam’s. “I killed my sister.”

His heartbeat is steady.

 

 


End file.
